University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


lane's  3Jn0tan  anti  Colonial  ILtbrarp 


Senator  North 


This  edition  is  issued  for  sale  in   India  and  the 
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SENATOR  NORTH 


BY 

GERTRUDE    ATHERTON 


JOHN    LANE:  THE    BODLEY   HEAD 

NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON 
IQOO 


Copyright,  1900 
BY  JOHN  LANE 

All  rights  reserved 


UNIVERSITY   PRESS    .    JOHN   WILSON 
AND     SON     .     CAMBRIDGE,     U.S.A. 


"  When,  Mr.  President,  a  man,  however  eminent 
in  other  pursuits  and  whatever  claims  he  may  have  to 
public  confidence,  becomes  a  member  of  this  body,  he 
has  much  to  learn  and  much  to  endure.  Little  does 
he  know  of  what  he  will  have  to  encounter.  He  may 
be  well  read  in  public  affairs,  but  he  is  unaware  of  the 
difficulties  which  must  attend  and  embarrass  every 
effort  to  render  what  he  may  know  available  and  use- 
ful. He  may  be  upright  in  purpose  and  strong  in  the 
belief  of  his  own  integrity,  but  he  cannot  even  dream 
of  the  ordeal  to  which  he  cannot  fail  to  be  exposed; 
of  how  much  courage  he  must  possess  to  resist  the 
temptations  which  must  daily  beset  him  ;  of  that  sensi- 
tive shrinking  from  undeserved  censure  which  he  must 
learn  to  control ;  of  the  ever  recurring  contest  between 
a  natural  desire  for  public  approbation  and  a  sense  of 
public  duty  ;  of  the  load  of  injustice  he  must  be  content 
to  bear  even  from  those  who  should  be  his  friends  ;  the 
imputations  on  his  motives ;  the  sneers  and  sarcasms 
of  ignorance  and  malice;  all  the  manifold  injuries 
which  partisan  or  private  malignity,  disappointed  of 
its  object,  may  shower  upon  his  unprotected  head.  All 
this,  if  he  would  retain  his  integrity,  he  must  learn  to 


bear  unmoved  and  walk  steadily  onward  in  the  path 
of  public  duty,  sustained  only  by  the  reflection  that  time 
may  do  him  justice  ;  or  if  not,  that  his  individual  hopes 
and  aspirations  and  even  his  name  among  men  should 
be  of  little  account  to  him  when  weighed  in  the  balance 
of  a  people  of  whose  destiny  he  is  a  constituted  guardian 
and  defender"  —  WILLIAM  PITT  FESSENDEN  in  memorial 
address  before  the  Senate,  1SCG. 


Miss  Betty  Madison  embarks  on  the  Political  Sea.    Her 
Discoveries,  Surprises,  and  Triumphs. 


SENATOR    NORTH 


"  IF  we  receive  this  Lady  Mary  Montgomery,  we  shall 
also  have  to  receive  her  dreadful  husband." 

"  He  is  said  to  be  quite  charming." 

"  He  is  a  Representative  !  " 

"  Of  course  they  are  all  wild  animals  to  you,  but  one 
or  two  have  been  pointed  out  to  me  that  looked  quite 
like  ordinary  gentlemen  —  really." 

"  Possibly.  But  no  person  in  official  life  has  ever 
entered  my  house.  I  do  not  feel  inclined  to  break  the 
rule  merely  because  the  wife  of  one  of  the  most  objec- 
tionable class  is  an  Englishwoman  with  a  title.  I  think 
it  very  inconsiderate  of  Lady  Barnstaple  to  have  given 
her  a  letter  to  us." 

"  Lee,  never  having  lived  in  Washington,  doubtless 
fancies,  like  the  rest  of  the  benighted  world,  that  its 
officials  are  its  aristocracy.  The  Senate  of  the  United 
States  is  regarded  abroad  as  a  sort  of  House  of  Peers. 
One  has  to  come  and  live  in  Washington  to  hear  of  the 
*  Old  Washingtonians,'  the  '  cave-dwellers,'  as  Sally 
calls  us ;  I  expected  to  see  a  coat  of  blue  mould  on 
each  of  them  when  I  returned." 

"Really,  Betty,  I  do  not  understand  you  this 
morning." 

3 


4  Senator  North 

Mrs.  Madison  moved  uneasily  and  took  out  her 
handkerchief.  When  her  daughter's  rich  Southern 
voice  hardened  itself  to  sarcasm,  and  her  brilliant  hazel 
eyes  expressed  the  brain  in  a  state  of  cold  analysis, 
Mrs.  Madison  braced  herself  for  a  contest  in  which  she 
inevitably  must  surrender  with  what  slow  dignity  she 
could  command.  Betty  had  called  her  Molly  since 
she  was  fourteen  months  old,  and,  sweet  and  gracious 
in  small  matters,  invariably  pursued  her  own  way  when 
sufficiently  roused  by  the  strength  of  a  desire.  Mrs. 
Madison,  however,  kept  up  the  fiction  of  an  authority 
which  she  thought  was  due  to  herself  and  her  ancestors. 
She  continued  impatiently,  —  * 

"You  have  been  standing  before  that  fireplace  for 
ten  minutes  with  your  shoulders  thrown  back  as  if  you 
were  going  to  make  a  speech.  It  is  not  a  nice  attitude 
for  a  girl  at  all,  and  I  wish  you  would  sit  down.  I 
hope  you  don't  think  that  because  Sally  Carter  crosses 
her  knees  and  cultivates  a  brutal  frankness  of  expres- 
sion you  must  do  the  same  now  that  you  have  dropped 
all  your  friends  of  your  own  age  and  become  intimate 
with  her.  I  suppose  she  is  old  enough  to  do  as  she 
chooses,  and  she  always  was  eccentric." 

"  She  is  only  eight  years  older  than  I.  You  forget 
that  I  shall  be  twenty-seven  in  three  months." 

"  Well,  that  is  no  reason  why  you  should  stand  be- 
fore the  fireplace  like  a  man.  Do  sit  down." 

"  I  'd  rather  stand  here  till  I  Ve  said  what  is  neces- 
sary—  if  you  don't  mind.  I  am  sorry  to  be  obliged  to 
say  it,  and  I  can  assure  you  that  I  have  not  made  up 
my  mind  in  a  moment." 

"  What  is  it,  for  heaven's  sake  ?  " 

Mrs.  Madison  drew  a  short  breath  and  readjusted 


Senator  North  5 

her  cushions.  In  spite  of  her  wealth  and  exalted 
position  she  had  known  much  trouble  and  grief.  Her 
first  six  children  had  died  in  their  early  youth.  Her 
husband,  brilliant  and  charming,  had  possessed  a  set  of 
affections  too  restless  and  ardent  to  confine  themselves 
within  the  domestic  limits.  His  wife  had  buried  him 
with  sorrow,  but  with  a  deep  sigh  of  relief  that  for 
the  future  she  could  mourn  him  without  torment.  He 
had  belonged  to  a  collateral  branch  of  a  family  of 
which  her  father  had  been  the  heir ;  consequently  the 
old  Madison  house  in  Washington  was  hers,  as  well  as 
a  large  fortune.  Harold  Madison  had  been  free  to 
spend  his  own  inheritance  as  he  listed,  and  he  had  left 
but  a  fragment.  Mrs.  Madison's  nerves,  never  strong, 
had  long  since  given  way  to  trouble  and  ill-health,  and 
when  her  active  strong-willed  daughter  entered  her 
twentieth  year,  she  gladly  permitted  her  to  become  the 
mistress  of  the  household  and  to  think  for  both.  Betty 
had  been  educated  by  private  tutors,  then  taken  abroad 
for  two  years,  to  France,  Germany,  and  Italy,  in  order, 
as  she  subsequently  observed,  to  make  the  foreign  at- 
tach^ feel  more  at  ease  when  he  proposed.  Her  win- 
ters thereafter  until  the  last  two  had  been  spent  in 
Washington,  where  she  had  been  a  belle  and  ranked 
as  a  beauty.  In  the  fashionable  set  it  was  believed 
that  every  attach^  in  the  city  had  proposed  to  her, 
as  well  as  a  large  proportion  of  the  old  beaux  and 
of  the  youths  who  pursue  the  business  of  Society. 
Her  summers  she  spent  at  her  place  in  the  Adiron- 
dacks,  at  Northern  watering-places,  or  in  Europe ; 
and  the  last  two  years  had  been  passed,  with  brief 
intervals  of  Paris  and  Vienna,  in  England,  where  she 
had  been  presented  with  distinction  and  seen  much 


6  Senator  North 

of  country  life.  She  had  returned  with  her  mother  to 
Washington  but  a  month  ago,  and  since  then  had  spent 
most  of  her  time  in  her  room  or  on  horseback,  break- 
ing all  her  engagements  after  the  first  ten  days.  Mrs. 
Madison  had  awaited  the  explanation  with  deep  un- 
easiness. Did  her  daughter,  despite  the  health  mani- 
fest in  her  splendid  young  figure,  feel  the  first  chill  of 
some  mortal  disease  ?  She  had  not  been  her  gay  self 
for  months,  and  although  her  complexion  was  of  that 
magnolia  tint  which  never  harbors  color,  it  seemed 
to  the  anxious  maternal  eye,  looking  back  to  six  young 
graves,  a  shade  whiter  than  it  should.  Or  had  she 
fallen  in  love  with  an  Englishman,  and  hesitated  to 
speak,  knowing  her  mother's  love  for  Washington  and 
bare  tolerance  of  the  British  Isles?  She  looked 
askance  at  Betty,  who  stood  tapping  the  front  of  her 
habit  with  her  crop  and  evidently  waiting  for  her 
mother  to  express  some  interest.  Mrs.  Madison 
closed  her  eyes.  Betty  therefore  continued,  — 

"  I  see  you  are  afraid  I  am  going  to  marry  an  Ori- 
ental minister  or  something.  I  hear  that  one  is  look- 
ing for  an  American  with  a  million.  Well,  I  am  going 
to  do  something  you  will  think  even  worse.  I  am  going 
in  for  politics." 

"You  are  going  to  do  what?  "  Mrs.  Madison's  voice 
was  nearly  inaudible  between  relief  and  horrified  sur- 
prise, but  her  eyes  flew  open.  "Do  you  mean  that 
you  are  going  to  vote  ?  —  or  run  for  Congress  ?  —  but 
women  don't  sit  in  Congress,  do  they?  " 

"Of  course  not.  Do  you  know  I  think  it  quite 
shocking  that  we  have  lived  here  in  the  very  brain  of 
the  United  States  all  our  lives  and  know  less  of  politics 
than  if  we  were  Indians  in  Alaska?  I  was  ashamed 


Senator  North  7 

of  myself,  I  can  assure  you,  when  Lord  Barnstaple 
asked  me  so  many  questions  the  first  time  I  visited 
Maimdrell  Abbey.  He  took  for  granted,  as  I  lived  in 
Washington,  I  must  be  thoroughly  well  up  in  politics, 
and  I  was  obliged  to  tell  him  that  although  I  had  oc- 
casionally been  in  the  room  with  one  or  two  Senators 
and  Cabinet  Ministers,  who  happened  to  be  in  Society 
first  and  politics  afterward,  I  didn't  know  the  others 
by  name,  had  never  put  my  foot  in  the  White  House 
or  the  Capitol,  and  that  no  one  I  knew  ever  thought 
of  talking  politics.  He  asked  me  what  I  had  done  with 
myself  during  all  the  winters  I  had  spent  in  Washington, 
and  I  told  him  that  I  had  had  the  usual  girls'-good- 
time,  —  teas,  theatre,  germans,  dinners,  luncheons, 
calls,  calls,  calls  !  I  was  glad  to  add  that  I  belonged 
to  several  charities  and  had  read  a  great  deal ;  but  that 
did  not  seem  to  interest  him.  Well,  I  met  a  good 
many  men  like  Lord  Barnstaple,  men  who  were  in 
public  life.  Some  of  them  were  dull  enough,  judged 
by  the  feminine  standard,  but  even  they  occasionally 
said  something  to  remember,  and  others  were  delight- 
ful. This  is  the  whole  point  —  I  can't  and  won't  go  back 
to  what  I  left  here  two  years  ago.  My  day  for  plati- 
tudes and  pouring  tea  for  men  who  are  contemptible 
enough  to  make  Society  their  profession,  is  over.  I  am 
going  to  know  the  real  men  of  my  country.  It  is  in- 
credible that  there  are  not  men  in  that  Senate  as  well 
worth  talking  to  as  any  I  met  in  England.  The  other 
clay  I  picked  up  a  bound  copy  of  the  Congressional 
Record  in  a  book-shop.  It  was  frantically  interesting." 
"  It  must  have  been  !  But,  my  dear  —  of  course  I 
understand,  darling,  your  desire  for  a  new  intellectual 
occupation  ;  you  always  were  so  clever  —  but  you  can't, 


8  Senator  North 

you  really  can't  know  these  men.  They  are  —  they  are 
—  politicians.  We  never  have  known  politicians.  They 
are  dreadful  people,  who  have  come  from  low  origins 
and  would  probably  call  me  'marm.'  " 

"  You  are  all  wrong,  Molly.  I  bought  a  copy  of  the 
Congressional  Directory  a  day  or  two  ago,  and  have  read 
the  biography  of  every  Senator.  Nine-tenths  of  them 
are  educated  men;  if  only  a  few  attended  the  big 
Universities,  the  rest  went  to  the  colleges  of  their  State. 
That  is  enough  for  an  American  of  brains.  And  most 
of  them  are  lawyers ;  others  served  in  the  war,  and 
several  have  distinguished  records.  They  cannot  be 
boors,  whether  they  have  blue  blood  in  them  or  not. 
I  'm  sick  of  blue  blood,  anyway.  Vienna  was  the  dead- 
liest place  I  ever  visited.  What  makes  London  inter- 
esting is  its  red  streak  of  plebeianism  ;  —  well,  I  repeat, 
I  think  it  really  dreadful  that  we  should  not  know  even 
by  name  the  men  who  make  our  laws,  who  are  making 
history,  who  may  be  called  upon  at  any  moment  to 
decide  our  fate  among  nations.  I  feel  a  silly  little 
fool." 

"  I  suppose  you  mean  that  I  am  one  too.  But  it 
always  has  been  my  boast,  Betty,  that  I  never  have  had 
a  politician  in  my  house.  Your  father  knew  some,  but 
he  never  brought  them  here ;  he  knew  the  fastidious 
manner  in  which  I  had  been  brought  up ;  and  although 
I  am  afraid  he  kept  late  hours  with  a  good  many  of 
them  at  Chamberlin's  and  other  dreadful  places,  he 
always  spared  me.  I  suppose  this  is  heredity  working 
out  in  you." 

"  Possibly.  But  you  will  admit,  will  you  not,  that  I 
am  old  enough  to  choose  my  own  life  ?  " 

"You   always   have   done    every   single   thing    you 


Senator  North  9 

wanted,  so  I  don't  see  why  you  talk  like  that.  But  if 
you  are  going  to  bring  a  lot  of  men  to  this  house  who 
will  spit  on  my  carpets  and  use  toothpicks,  I  beg  you 
will  not  ask  me  to  receive  with  you." 

"  Of  course  you  will  receive  with  me,  Molly  dear  — 
when  I  know  anybody  worth  receiving.  Unfortunately 
I  am  not  the  wife  of  the  President  and  cannot  send  out 
a  royal  summons.  I  am  hoping  that  Lady  Mary  Mont- 
gomery will  help  me.  But  my  first  step  shall  be  to 
pay  a  daily  visit  to  the  Senate  Gallery." 

"What!"  Mrs.  Madison's  weary  voice  flew  to  its 
upper  register.  "  I  do  know  something  about  politics 
—  I  remember  now  —  the  only  women  who  go  to  the 
Capitol  are  lobbyists  —  dreadful  creatures  who — who 
—  do  all  sorts  of  things.  You  can't  go  there,  you  '11  be 
taken  for  one." 

"  We  none  of  us  are  taken  very  long  for  what  we  are 
not.  I  shall  take  Le"  ontine  with  me,  and  those  interested 
enough  to  notice  me  will  soon  learn  what  I  go  for." 

Mrs.  Madison  burst  into  tears.  "You  are  your 
father  all  over  again  !  I  've  seen  it  developing  for  at 
least  three  years.  At  first  you  were  just  a  hard  student, 
and  then  the  loveliest  young  girl,  only  caring  to  have  a 
good  time,  and  coquetting  more  bewitchingly  than  any 
girl  I  ever  saw.  I  don't  see  why  you  had  to  change." 

"Time  develops  all  of  us,  one  way  or  another.  I 
suppose  you  would  like  me  to  be  a  charming  girl 
flirting  bewitchingly  when  I  am  forty-five.  I  am 
finished  with  the  meaningless  things  of  life.  I  want 
to  live  now,  and  I  intend  to." 

"It  will  be  wildly  exciting — the  Senate  Gallery 
every  day,  and  knowing  a  lot  of  lank  raw-boned 
Yankees  with  political  beards." 


10  Senator  North 

"  I  am  not  expecting  to  fall  in  love  with  any  of 
them.  I  merely  discovered  some  time  since  that  I 
had  a  brain,  and  they  happen  to  be  the  impulse  that 
possesses  it.  You  always  have  prided  yourself  that  I 
am  intellectual,  and  so  I  am  in  the  flabby  '  well-read ' 
fashion.  I  feel  as  if  my  brain  had  been  a  mausoleum 
for  skeletons  and  mummies ;  it  felt  alive  for  the  first 
time  when  I  began  to  read  the  newspapers  in  England. 
I  want  no  more  memoirs  and  letters  and  biographies, 
nor  even  of  the  history  that  is  shut  up  in  calf-skin.  I 
want  the  life  of  to-day.  I  want  to  feel  in  the  midst 
of  current  history.  All  these  men  here  in  Washington 
must  be  alive  to  their  finger-tips.  Sally  Carter  admires 
Senator  North  and  Senator  Maxwell  immensely." 

"  What  does  she  say  about  politicians  in  general  ?  " 
Mrs.  Madison  looked  almost  distraught.  "  Of  course 
the  Norths  and  the  Maxwells  come  of  good  New 
England  families — I  never  did  look  down  on  the 
North  as  much  as  some  of  us  did ;  after  all,  nearly 
three  hundred  years  are  very  respectable  indeed  — 
and  if  these  two  men  had  not  been  in  politics  I  should 
have  been  delighted  to  receive  them.  I  met  Senator 
North  once  —  at  Bar  Harbor,  while  you  were  with 
the  Carters  at  Homburg  —  and  thought  him  charm- 
ing; and  I  had  some  most  interesting  chats  with  hn 
wife,  who  is  much  the  same  sort  of  invalid  that  I  am. 
But  when  I  establish  a  standard  I  am  consistent  enough 
to  want  to  keep  to  it.  I  asked  you  what  Sally  Carter 
says  of  the  others." 

"  Oh,  she  admits  that  there  may  be  others  as  con- 
venable  as  Senator  North  and  Senator  Maxwell,  and 
that  there  is  no  doubt  about  there  being  many  bright 
men  in  the  Senate ;  but  she  '  does  not  care  to  know 


Senator  North  1 1 

any  more  people.'  Being  a  good  cave-dweller,  she  is 
true  to  her  traditions." 

"  People  will  say  you  are  passee"  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Madison,  hopefully.  "  They  will  be  sure  to." 

Her  daughter  laughed,  showing  teeth  as  brilliant  as 
her  eyes.  Then  she  snatched  off  her  riding-hat  and 
shook  down  her  mane  of  warm  brown  hair.  Her 
black  brows  and  lashes,  like  her  eyes  and  mouth,  were 
vivid,  but  her  hair  and  complexion  were  soft,  without 
lustre,  but  very  warm.  She  looked  like  a  flower  set 
on  so  strongly  sapped  a  stem  that  her  fullness  would 
outlast  many  women's  decline.  She  had  inherited  the 
beauty  of  her  father's  branch  of  the  family.  Mrs. 
Madison  was  very  small  and  thin ;  but  she  carried 
herself  erectly  and  her  delicately  cut  face  was  little 
wrinkled.  Her  eyes  were  blue,  and  her  hair,  which 
was  always  carefully  rolled,  was  as  white  as  sea 
foam.  Betty  would  not  permit  her  to  wear  black,  but 
dressed  her  in  delicate  colors,  and  she  looked  some- 
what like  an  animated  miniature.  She  dabbed  im- 
patiently at  her  tears. 

"  Everybody  will  cut  you  —  if  you  go  into  that 
dreadful  political  set." 

"  I  am  on  the  verge  of  cutting  everybody  myself,  so 
it  does  n't  matter.  Positively  —  I  shall  not  accept  an 
invitation  of  the  old  sort  this  winter.  The  sooner 
they  drop  me  the  better." 

Mrs.  Madison  wept  bitterly.  "  You  will  become  a 
notorious  woman,"  she  sobbed.  "  People  will  talk 
terribly  about  you.  They  will  say  —  all  sorts  of  things 
I  have  heard  come  back  to  me  —  these  politicians  make 
love  to  every  pretty  woman  they  meet.  They  are  so  tired 
of  their  old  frumps  from  Oshkosh  and  Kalamazoo." 


1 2  Senator  North 

"They  do  not  all  come  from  Oshkosh  and  Kala- 
mazoo.  There  are  six  New  England  States  whose 
three  centuries  you  have  just  admitted  lift  them  into 
the  mists  of  antiquity.  There  are  fourteen  Southern 
States,  and  I  need  make  no  defence —  " 

"  Their  gentlemen  don't  go  into  politics  any  more." 

"  You  have  admitted  that  Senator  North  and  Sena- 
tor Maxwell  are  gentlemen.  There  is  no  reason  why 
there  should  not  be  many  more." 

"  Count  de  Bellairs  told  me  that  there  was  a  spit- 
toon at  every  desk  in  the  Senate  and  that  he  counted 
eight  toothpicks  in  one  hour." 

"Well,  I'll  reform  them.  That  will  be  my  holy 
mission.  As  for  spittoons  and  toothpicks,  they  are 
conspicuous  in  every  hotel  in  the  United  States.  They 
should  be  on  our  coat-of-arms,  and  the  Great  Ameri- 
can Novel  will  be  called  '  The  Great  American  Tooth- 
pick.' Statesmen  have  cut  their  teeth  on  it,  and  it  has 
been  their  solace  in  the  great  crises  of  the  nation's 
history.  As  for  spittoons,  they  were  invented  for  our 
own  Southern  aristocrats  who  loved  tobacco  then  as 
now.  They  decorate  our  Capitol  as  a  mere  matter  of 
form.  I  don't  pretend  to  hope  that  ninety  representa- 
tive Americans  are  Beau  Brummels,  but  there  must  be 
a  respectable  minority  of  gentlemen  —  whether  self- 
made  or  not  I  don't  care.  I  am  going  to  make  a 
deliberate  attempt  to  know  that  minority,  and  shall 
call  on  Lady  Mary  Montgomery  this  afternoon  as  the 
first  step.  So  you  are  resigned,  are  you  not,  Molly 
dear?" 

"  No,  I  am  not !  But  what  can  I  do  ?  I  have 
spoiled  you,  and  you  would  be  just  the  same  if  I  had  n't. 
You  are  more  like  the  men  of  the  family  than  the 


Senator  North  1 3 

women  —  they  always  would  have  their  own  way. 
Are  they  all  married?"  she  added  anxiously. 

"Do  you  mean  the  ninety  Senators  and  the  three 
hundred  and  fifty-six  Representatives?  I  am  sure 
I  do  not  know.  Don't  let  that  worry  you.  It  is  my 
mind  that  is  on  the  qui  vivey  not  my  heart." 

"  You  '11  hear  some  old  fool  make  a  Websterian 
speech  full  of  periods  and  rhetoric,  and  you  '11  straight- 
way imagine  yourself  in  love  with  him.  Your  head 
will  be  your  worst  enemy  when  you  do  fall  in  love." 

"  Webster  is  the  greatest  master  of  style  this  country 
has  produced.  I  should  hate  a  man  who  used  either 
'  periods  '  or  rhetoric.  I  am  the  concentrated  essence 
of  modernism  and  have  no  use  for  '  oratory '  or  '  elo- 
quence.' Some  of  the  little  speeches  in  the  Record  are 
masterpieces  of  brevity  and  pure  English,  particularly 
Senator  North's." 

"  You  are  modern.  If  we  had  a  Clay,  I  could  under- 
stand you  —  I  am  too  exhausted  to  discuss  the  matter 
further ;  you  must  drop  it  for  the  present.  What  will 
Jack  Emory  say?" 

"  I  have  never  given  him  the  least  right  to  say  any- 
thing." 

"  I  almost  wish  you  were  safely  married  to  him. 
He  has  not  made  a  great  success  of  his  life,  but  he  is 
your  equal  and  his  manners  are  perfect.  I  shall  live 
in  constant  fear  now  of  your  marrying  a  horror  with 
a  twang  and  a  toothpick." 

"I  promise  you  I  won't  do  that  —  and  that  I  never 
will  marry  Jack  Emory." 


14  Senator  North 


II 

BETTY  MADISON  had  exercised  a  great  deal  of  self- 
control  in  resisting  the  natural  impulse  to  cultivate 
a  fad  and  grapple  with  a  problem.  Only  her  keen 
sense  of  humor  saved  her.  On  the  Sunday  following 
her  return,  while  sauntering  home  after  a  long  restless 
tramp  about  the  city,  she  passed  a  church  which  many 
colored  people  were  entering.  Her  newly  awakened 
curiosity  in  all  things  pertaining  to  the  political  life  of 
her  country  prompted  her  to  follow  them  and  sit 
through  the  service.  The  clergyman  was  light  in  color, 
and  prayed  and  preached  in  simpler  and  better  Eng- 
lish than  she  had  heard  in  more  pretentious  pulpits, 
but  there  was  nothing  noteworthy  in  his  remarks  be- 
yond a  supplication  to  the  Almighty  to  deliver  the 
negro  from  the  oppression  of  the  "  Southern  tyrant," 
followed  by  an  admonition  to  the  negro  to  improve 
himself  in  mind  and  character  if  he  would  hope  to 
compete  with  the  Whites;  bitter  words  and  violence 
but  weakened  his  cause. 

This  was  sound  common-sense,  but  the  reverse  of 
the  sensational  entertainment  Betty  had  half  expected, 
and  her  eyes  wandered  from  the  preacher  to  his  con- 
gregation. There  were  all  shades  of  Afro-American 
color  and  all  degrees  of  prosperity  represented.  Coal- 
black  women  were  there,  attired  in  deep  and  expensive 
mourning.  "Yellow  girls"  wore  smart  little  tailor 
costumes.  Three  young  girls,  evidently  of  the  lower 
middle  class  of  colored  society,  for  they  were  cheaply 
dressed,  had  all  the  little  airs  and  graces  and  manner- 


Senator  North  15 

isms  of  the  typical  American  girl.  In  one  corner 
a  sleek  mulatto  with  a  Semitic  profile  sat  in  the  recog- 
nized attitude  of  the  banker  in  church;  filling  his 
corner  comfortably  and  setting  a  worthy  example  to 
the  less  favored  of  Mammon. 

But  Betty's  attention  suddenly  was  arrested  and  held 
by  two  men  who  sat  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  aisle, 
although  not  together,  and  apparently  were  unrelated. 
There  were  no  others  quite  like  them  in  the  church, 
but  the  conviction  slowly  forced  itself  into  her  mind, 
magnetic  for  new  impressions,  that  there  were  many 
elsewhere.  They  were  men  who  were  descending  the 
fifties,  tall,  with  straight  gray  hair.  One  was  very 
slender,  and  all  but  distinguished  of  carriage;  the 
other  was  heavier,  and  would  have  been  imposing  but 
for  the  listless  droop  of  his  shoulders.  The  features 
of  both  were  finely  cut,  and  their  complexions  far 
removed  from  the  reproach  of  "  yellow."  They  looked 
like  sun-burned  gentlemen. 

For  nearly  ten  minutes  Betty  stared,  fascinated, 
while  her  mind  grappled  with  the  deep  significance 
of  all  those  two  sad  and  patient  men  expressed.  They 
inherited  the  shell  and  the  intellect,  the  aspirations 
and  the  possibilities  of  the  gay  young  planters  whose 
tragic  folly  had  called  into  being  a  race  of  outcasts 
with  all  their  own  capacity  for  shame  and  suffering. 

Betty  went  home  and  for  twenty-four  hours  fought 
with  the  desire  to  champion  the  cause  of  the  negro 
and  make  him  her  life-work.  But  not  only  did  she 
abominate  women  with  missions,  she  looked  at  the 
subject  upon  each  of  its  many  sides  and  asked  a  num- 
ber of  indirect  questions  of  her  cousin,  Jack  Emory. 
Sincere  reflection  brought  with  it  the  conclusion  that 


1 6  Senator  North 

her  energies  in  behalf  of  the  negro  would  be  super- 
fluous. The  careless  planters  were  dead  ;  she  could  not 
harangue  their  dust.  The  Southerners  of  the  present 
generation  despised  and  feared  the  colored  race  in 
its  enfranchised  state  too  actively  to  have  more  to  do 
with  it  than  they  could  help ;  if  it  was  a  legal  offence 
for  Whites  and  Blacks  to  marry,  there  was  an  equally 
stringent  social  law  which  protected  the  colored  girl 
from  the  lust  of  the  white  man.  Therefore,  as  she 
could  not  undo  the  harm  already  done,  and  as  a 
crusade  in  behalf  of  the  next  generation  would  be 
meaningless,  not  to  say  indelicate,  she  dismissed  the 
"  problem  "  from  her  mind.  But  the  image  of  those 
two  sad  and  stately  reflections  of  the  old  school  sank 
indelibly  into  her  memory,  and  rose  to  their  part  in 
one  of  the  most  momentous  decisions  of  her  life. 


Ill 

THE  Montgomerys  had  come  to  Washington  for  the 
first  time  at  the  beginning  of  the  previous  winter,  while 
the  Madisons  were  in  England.  Lady  Mary  had  left 
her  note  of  introduction  the  day  before  Betty's  decla- 
ration of  independence. 

Betty  was  anxious  to  meet  the  young  Englishwoman, 
not  only  because  she  possessed  the  charmed  key  to 
political  society,  but  her  history  as  related  by  certain 
gossips  of  authority  commanded  interest. 

Randolph  Montgomery,  a  young  Californian  million- 
aire, had  followed  his  mother's  former  ward,  Lady 
Maundrell,  to  England,  nursing  an  old  and  hopeless 


Senator  North  j  7 

passion.  What  passed  between  him  and  the  beautiful 
young  countess  the  gossips  did  not  attempt  to  state, 
but  he  left  England  two  days  after  the  tragedy  which 
shelved  Cecil  Maundrell  into  the  House  of  Lords,  and 
returned  to  California  accompanied  by  his  mother  and 
Lady  Barnstaple's  friend,  Lady  Mary  Montgomery. 
Bets  were  exchanged  freely  as  to  the  result  of  this 
bold  move  on  the  part  of  a  girl  too  fastidious  to  marry 
any  of  the  English  parvenus  that  addressed  her,  too 
poor  to  marry  in  her  own  class.  The  wedding  took 
place  a  few  months  later,  immediately  after  Mrs. 
Montgomery's  death ;  an  event  which  left  Lady  Mary 
the  guest  in  a  foreign  country  of  a  young  bachelor. 

From  all  accounts,  the  marriage,  although  a  wide 
deflection  from  the  highest  canons  of  romance,  was  a 
successful  one,  and  the  Montgomerys  were  living  in 
splendid  state  in  Washington.  Lady  Mary  was  ap- 
proved by  even  the  "  Old  Washingtonians  "  — a  thought- 
ful Californian  of  lineage  had  given  her  a  letter  to  Miss 
Carter,  who  in  turn  had  given  her  a  tea  —  and  as  her 
husband  was  brilliant,  accomplished,  and  of  the  best 
blood  of  Louisiana,  the  little  set,  tenaciously  clinging 
to  its  traditional  exclusiveness  amidst  the  whirling  ever- 
changing  particles  of  the  political  maelstrom,  found 
no  fault  in  him  beyond  his  calling.  And  as  he  was  a 
man  of  tact  and  never  mentioned  politics  in  its 
presence,  and  as  his  wife  was  not  at  home  to  the 
public  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  the  month,  reserving 
that  day  for  such  of  her  friends  as  shunned  political 
petticoats,  the  young  couple  were  taken  straight  into 
the  bosom  of  that  inner  set  which  the  ordinary  outsider 
might  search  for  a  very  glimpse  of  in  vain. 

How  Lady  Mary  stood  with  the  large  and  heteroge- 


1 8  Senator  North 

neous  political  set  Betty  had  no  means  of  knowing, 
and  she  was  curious  to  ascertain  ;  she  could  think  of  no 
position  more  trying  for  an  Englishwoman  of  Mary 
Gifford's  class. 

As  she  drove  toward  the  house  several  hours  after 
announcing  her  plan  of  campaign  to  her  mother,  she 
found  Massachusetts  Avenue  blocked  with  carriages 
and  recalled  suddenly  that  Tuesday  was  "  Repre- 
sentatives' day."  She  gave  a  little  laugh  as  she 
imagined  Mrs.  Madison's  plaintive  distaste.  And 
then  she  felt  the  tremor  and  flutter,  the  pleasurable 
desire  to  run  away,  which  had  assailed  her  on  the 
night  of  her  first  ball.  That  was  eight  years  ago, 
and  she  had  not  experienced  a  moment  of  nervous 
trepidation  since. 

"Am  I  about  to  be  re-born?  "  she  thought.  "  Or 
merely  rejuvenated?  I  certainly  do  feel  young  again." 

She  looked  about  critically  as  she  entered  the 
house.  Her  own  home,  which  was  older  than  the 
White  House,  was  large  and  plain,  with  lofty  rooms 
severely  trimmed  in  the  colonial  style.  There  were  no 
portieres,  no  modern  devices  of  decoration.  Every- 
thing was  solid  and  comfortable,  worn,  and  of  a  long 
and  honorable  descent.  The  dining-room  and  large 
square  hall  were  striking  because  of  the  blackness  of 
their  oak  walls,  the  many  family  portraits,  and  certain 
old  trophies  of  the  chase,  as  vague  in  their  high  dark 
corners  as  fading  daguerreotypes. 

So  imbued  was  Betty  with  the  idea  that  anything 
more  elaborate  was  the  sign  manifest  of  too  recent 
fortune,  that  she  had  indulged  in  caustic  criticism  of 
the  modern  palaces  of  certain  New  York  friends.  But 
although  the  immediate  impression  of  the  Montgomery 


Senator  North  19 

house  was  of  soft  luxurious  richness,  and  it  was  indubi- 
tably the  home  of  wealthy  people  determined  to  enjoy 
life,  Miss  Madison's  dainty  nose  did  not  lift  itself. 

"  At  all  events,  the  money  is  not  laid  on  with  a 
trowel,"  she  thought.  And  then  she  became  aware  of 
a  curious  sensuous  longing  as  she  looked  again  at  the 
dim  rich  beauty  about  her,  the  smothered  windows, 
the  suggested  power  of  withdrawal  from  every  vulgar 
or  annoying  contact  beyond  those  stately  walls. 

"I  should  like  — I  should  like—"  thought  Betty, 
striving  to  put  her  vague  emotion  into  words,  "  to  live 
in  this  sort  of  house  when  I  marry."  And  then  her 
humor  flashed  up  :  it  was  a  sense  that  sat  at  the  heels 
of  every  serious  thought.  "  What  a  combination  with 
the  twang  and  the  toothpick  !  Can  they  really  be  my 
fate?  Of  course  I  might  reform  both,  and  cut  off  his 
Uncle  Sam  beard  while  he  slept." 

She  had  taken  the  wrong  direction  and  entered  a 
room  in  which  there  was  not  even  a  stray  guest.  A 
loud  buzz  of  voices  rose  and  fell  at  the  end  of  a  long 
hall,  and  she  slowly  made  her  way  to  the  drawing- 
room,  pausing  once  to  watch  a  footman  who  was 
busily  sorting  visiting-cards  into  separate  packs  at  a 
table.  She  handed  him  her  card,  and  he  slipped  it 
into  a  pack  marked  "  I  Street." 

The  drawing-room  was  thronged  with  people,  and 
as  many  of  them  surrounded  the  hostess,  while  con- 
stant new-comers  pressed  forward  to  shake  a  patient 
hand,  Betty  decided  to  stand  apart  for  a  few  moments 
and  look  at  the  crowd.  She  was  in  a  new  world,  and 
as  eager  and  curious  as  if  she  had  been  shot  from 
Earth  to  Mars. 

Lady  Mary  was  quite  as  handsome  as  her  portraits : 


2o  Senator  North 

a  cold  blue  and  white  and  ashen  beauty  whose  car- 
riage and  manifest  of  race  were  in  curious  contrast, 
Lee  had  told  Betty,  to  a  nervous  manner  and  the  loud 
voice  of  one  who  conceived  that  social  laws  had  been 
invented  for  the  middle  class.  But  there  was  little 
vivacity  in  her  manner  to-day,  and  her  voice  was  not 
audible  across  the  large  room.  She  looked  tired.  It 
was  half-past  five  o'clock,  and  doubtless  she  had  been 
on  her  feet  since  three.  But  she  was  smiling  gra- 
ciously upon  her  visitors,  and  gave  each  a  warmth  of 
welcome  which  betrayed  the  wife  of  the  ambitious 
politician. 

"  Her  mouth  is  not  so  selfish  as  in  her  photographs," 
observed  the  astute  Betty.  "  I  suppose  in  the  depths 
of  her  soul  she  hates  this,  but  she  does  it ;  and  if  she 
loves  the  man,  she  must  think  it  well  worth  while." 

She  turned  her  attention  to  the  visitors.  There 
were  many  women  superbly  dressed,  in  taste  as  per- 
fect as  her  own.  She  never  had  seen  any  of  them 
before,  but  they  had  the  air  of  women  of  importance. 
The  majority  looked  frigid  and  bored,  a  few  dignified 
and  easy  of  manner.  The  younger  women  of  the 
same  class  were  more  animated,  but  no  less  irreproach- 
able in  style. 

There  were  others,  middle-aged  and  young,  with  all 
the  native  style  of  the  second-class,  and  still  others 
who  were  clad  in  coarse  serges,  cashmeres,  or  cheap 
silks,  shapelessly  made  with  the  heavy  hand  of  many 
burdens.  These  did  not  detain  the  hostess  in  con- 
versation, but  gathered  in  groups,  or  walked  about  the 
room  gazing  at  the  many  beautiful  pictures  and  orna- 
ments. There  were  only  three  or  four  really  vulgar- 
looking  women  present,  and  they  were  clothed  in 


Senator  North  21 

conspicuous  raiment.  One,  and  all  but  her  waist  was 
huge,  wore  a  bodice  of  transparent  gauze ;  another, 
also  of  middle  years,  had  crowned  her  hard  over- 
colored  face  with  a  large  gentian-blue  hat  turned  up  in 
front  with  a  brass  buckle.  Another  was  in  pink  silk 
and  heavily  powdered.  But  although  these  women 
were  offensively  loud,  they  did  not  suggest  any  lack  of 
that  virtue  whose  exact  proportions  so  often  elude  the 
most  earnest  seeker  after  truth. 

Betty  turned  impulsively  to  an  old  woman  clad  in 
shabby  black  who  stood  beside  her  gazing  earnestly  at 
the  crowd.  Her  large  bony  face  was  crossed  by  the 
lines  and  wrinkles  of  long  years  of  care,  and  her  eyes 
were  dim  ;  but  her  mouth  was  smiling. 

"  Tell  me,"  exclaimed  Betty,  "  please  —  are  all  these 
people  in  politics  ?  I  —  I  —  am  a  stranger,  and  I  should 
like  to  know  who  they  are." 

"  Well,  I  can  tell  you  pretty  near  everything  you  want 
to  know,  I  guess,"  replied  the  old  lady.  She  had  the 
drawl  and  twang  and  accent  of  rural  New  England. 
"  I  guess  you  've  come  here,  like  myself,  jest  to  see  the 
folks.  A  few  here,  like  you  and  me,  ar'  n't  in  official 
life,  but  the  most  are,  I  guess.  Nearly  all  the  Cabinet 
ladies  are  here  to-day  and  a  good  many  Senators' 
wives  and  darters.  That  there  lady  in  heliotrope  and 
fur  is  the  wife  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  the  one 
in  green  velvet  and  chinchilla  is  Mis'  Senator  Max- 
well. That  real  stylish  handsome  girl  just  behind  is 
her  darter,  and  I  guess  she  has  a  good  many  beaux. 
They're  real  elegant,  ar'n't  they?  I  guess  we  have 
good  cause  to  be  proud  of  our  ladies." 

She  paused  that  Betty  might  express  her  approval, 
and  upon  being  assured  that  Paris  was  responsible  for 


22  Senator  North 

many  of  the  gowns  present,  continued  in  her  monoto- 
nous but  kindly  drawl, 

"  And  some  of  them  began  life  doin'  their  own 
work.  The  President  ain't  no  aristocrat,  and  most 
of  his  friends  ain't  neither ;  but  I  tell  you  when  their 
wives  begin  to  entertain  they  do  it  jest  as  if  they  was 
born  to  it.  I  presume  if  my  husband  —  he  was  a 
physician  —  had  gone  into  politics  and  had  luck,  I  'd 
have  been  jest  like  those  ladies ;  but  as  he  did  n't, 
I  'm  still  doin'  most  of  my  own  work  and  look  it. 
But  the  Lord  knows  what  he  's  about,  I  guess.  Sena- 
tor Maxwell 's  a  swell ;  they  've  always  been  rich,  the 
Maxwells,  and  he  married  a  New  York  girl,  so  she 
didn't  have  much  to  learn,  I  guess.  Mis'  Senator 
Shattuc — she's  the  one  in  wine  color  —  was  the 
darter  of  a  big  railroad  man  out  West,  so  I  guess  she 
had  all  the  schoolin'  and  Yurrup  she  wanted.  Now 
that  real  pretty  little  woman  jest  speakin'  to  Lady 
Montgomery  is  Mis'  Senator  Freeman.  They  do  say 
as  how  she  was  the  darter  of  a  baker  in  Chicago  and 
used  to  run  barefoot  around  the  streets,  but  she  looks 
as  well  as  any  of  'em  now  and  she  dines  at  every 
Embassy  in  Washington.  Her  dresses  are  always 
described  in  the  Post;  she  wears  pink  and  blue  mostly. 
You  kin  tell  by  her  face  that  she's  got  a  lot  of 
determination  and  that  she  'd  git  where  she  had  a 
mind  to.  I  guess  she  'd  dine  with  Queen  Victoria 
if  she  had  a  mind  to." 

"  I  feel  exactly  as  if  I  were  at  a  pantomime,"  cried 
Betty,  delightedly.  "  Even  you  —  "  She  caught  her- 
self up.  "  I  mean  I  always  thought  the  New  England 
playwrights  invented  all  their  characters.  Who  are  these 
plainly  dressed  women  and  —  and  —  half-way  ones  ?  " 


Senator  North  23 

"  Oh,  they  're  Representatives'  wives  mostly,"  drawled 
the  old  lady,  who  looked  puzzled.  "They  take  a 
day  off  and  call  on  each  other.  One  or  two  is  Sena- 
tors' wives.  Some  of  the  Senators  is  rich,  but  some 
ar'  n't.  Mis'  Montgomery 's  jest  as  nice  to  them  as  to 
the  swells,  and  she  told  me  to  be  sure  and  go  into 
the  next  room  and  have  a  cup  of  tea.  I  don't  care 
much  about  tea  excep'  for  lunch,  and  she  don't  have 
a  collation  —  I  presume  she  can't ;  too  many  people  'd 
come,  and  I  guess  she  has  about  enough.  Now,  those 
ladies  that  don't  look  exactly  as  if  they  was  ladies," 
indicating  the  large  birds  of  tawdry  plumage  and  strik- 
ing complexions,  "  they  don't  live  here.  Washington 
ladies  don't  dress  like  that.  I  guess  they  're  the  wives 
of  men  out  West  that  have  made  their  pile  lately  and 
come  here  to  see  the  sights.  First  they  look  at  all  the 
public  buildin's,  and  I  guess  they  about  walk  all  over 
the  Capitol,  and  hear  a  speech  or  two  in  the  Ladies' 
Gallery  —  from  their  Senators,  if  they  can  —  and  after 
that  they  go  about  in  Society  a  bit.  You  see,  Wash- 
ington is  a  mighty  nice  place  fur  people  who  have  n't 
much  show  at  home  —  those  that  lives  in  small  towns, 
fur  instance.  There  is  so  many  public  receptions  they 
can  go  to  —  The  White  House,  the  Wednesdays  of  the 
Cabinet  ladies,  the  Thursdays  of  the  Senator's  wives, 
and  six  or  seven  Representatives  —  mebbe  more  — 
who  have  real  elegant  houses ;  and  then  there  is  sev- 
eral Legations  that  give  public  receptions.  You  can 
always  see  in  the  Post  who 's  goin'  to  receive ;  and 
those  women  can  go  home  and  talk  fur  the  rest  of 
their  lives  about  the  fine  time  they  had  in  Washington 
society.  Amurricans  heighst  themselves  whenever  they 
git  a  chance.  I  don't  care  to  do  that.  My  sister  — 


24  Senator  North 

she  's  a  heap  younger  'n  I  am  and  awful  spry  —  and  I 
come  down  from  the  north  of  New  Hampshire  every 
winter  and  keep  a  boardin'-house  in  Washington  so 
that  we  can  see  the  world.  We  don't  go  home  with 
ten  dollars  over  railroad  fare  in  our  pockets,  but  we 
don't  mind,  because  the  farm  keeps  us  and  we  've 
had  a  real  good  time.  I  often  sit  down  up  in  New 
Hampshire  and  think  of  the  beautiful  houses  and 
dresses  and  pictures  I  Ve  seen,  and  I  can  always 
remember  that  I  've  shaken  hands  with  the  President 
and  his  wife  and  the  ladies  of  the  Cabinet.  They  're 
just  as  nice  as  they  can  be." 

Betty,  whose  sympathies  were  quick  and  keen, 
winked  away  a  tear.  "  I  'm  so  glad  you  enjoy  it  so 
much,"  she  exclaimed,  "and  that  there  is  so  much 
for  you  here  to  enjoy.  I  never  thought  of  it  in  that 
way.  I  'm  awfully  interested  in  it  all,  myself,  and  I 
feel  deeply  indebted  to  you." 

"  Well,  you  need  n't  mind  that.  My  sister  says  I 
always  talk  when  I  can  git  anybody  to  listen  to  me,  and  I 
guess  I  do.  Where  air  you  from  ?  New  York,  I  guess." 

"  Oh,  I  am  a  Washingtonian.    My  name  is  Madison." 

"So?  I  don't  remember  seeing  it  in  the  society 
columns." 

"  We  are  never  mentioned  in  society  columns,"  ex- 
claimed Betty,  with  her  first  thrill  of  pride  since  enter- 
ing the  new  world.  "But  I  seldom  have  passed  a 
winter  out  of  Washington,  although  —  I  am  sorry  to 
say  —  I  never  have  met  any  of  these  people." 

"You  don't  say.  I  ain't  curious,  but  you  don't  look 
as  if  you  had  to  stay  to  home  and  do  the  work.  But 
Amurrican  girls  are  so  smart  they  can  about  look  any- 
thing they  have  a  mind  to." 


Senator  North  25 

"  Oh  —  I  am  really  sorry,  but  everybody  seems  to  be 
going,  and  I  have  n't  spoken  to  Lady  Mary  yet.  I  'm 
so  much  obliged  to  you." 

"  Now,  you  need  n't  be,  for  you  're  a  real  nice  young 
lady,  and  I  Ve  enjoyed  talkin'  to  you.  Likely  we  '11 
meet  again,  but  I  'd  be  happy  to  have  you  call.  Here  's 
my  card.  Our  house  is  right  near  here  —  in  the  real 
fashionable  part ;  and  we  've  several  ladies  livin'  with 
us  that  you  might  like  to  meet." 

"  Oh,  thanks  !  thanks  !  "  Betty  put  the  card  carefully 
into  her  case,  shook  her  'new  friend  warmly  by  the  hand, 
and  went  forward.  Lady  Mary's  tired  white  face  had 
set  into  an  almost  mechanical  smile,  but  as  her  eyes 
met  Betty's  they  illumined  with  sudden  interest  and 
her  hard-worked  muscles  relaxed. 

"  You  are  Betty  Madison  !  "  she  exclaimed.  And  as 
the  two  girls  shook  hands  they  conceived  one  of  those 
sudden  and  violent  friendships  which  are  so  full  of 
interest  while  they  last. 

"  How  awfully  good  of  you  to  call  so  soon  !  "  con- 
tinued Lady  Mary,  after  Betty  had  expatiated  upon  her 
long-cherished  desire  for  this  meeting.  "  I  hoped  you 
would,  although  Miss  Carter  rather  frightened  me  with 
her  account  of  your  mother's  aversion  to  political 
people.  But  they  have  all  been  so  good  to  me  —  all 
your  delightful  set."  She  lowered  her  voice,  which 
had  rung  out  for  a  moment  in  something  of  its  old  style, 
albeit  platitudes  had  worn  upon  its  edges.  "  I  coiildrft 
stand  just  this  —  although  I  must  add  that  many  of  the 
official  women  are  charming  and  have  the  most  stun- 
ning manners ;  but  many  are  the  reverse,  and  unfor- 
tunately I  can't  pick  and  choose.  It  seems  that  when 
one  gets  into  politics  in  this  country  that  is  the  end  of 


26  Senator  North 

nine-tenths  of  one's  personal  life ;  and  Washington  is 
certainly  the  headquarters  of  democracy.  Here  every 
American  really  does  feel  that  he  is  as  good  as  every 
other  American ;  I  wish  to  heaven  he  did  n't." 

"  Washington  is  a  democracy  with  a  kernel  of  the 
most  exclusive  aristocracy,"  said  Betty,  with  a  laugh. 
"  Some  one  has  said  that  it  is  the  drawing-room  of  the 
Republic.  It  is  the  hotel  drawing-room  with  a  Holy 
of  Holies  opening  upon  the  area.  I  'm  sick  of  the 
Holy  of  Holies,  and  I  've  never  enjoyed  a  half-hour  so 
much  as  while  I've  been  looking  on  here — waiting 
for  you  to  be  disengaged." 

"  Oh,  this  is  nothing.  You  must  let  me  take  you  to 
a  large  evening  reception.  That  is  really  interesting, 
for  you  see  so  many  famous  people.  Can't  you  dine 
with  me  to-morrow  ?  We  Ve  a  big  political  dinner  on. 
About  fifteen  members  of  a  Senate  and  a  House  Com- 
mittee that  are  deliberating  a  very  important  bill  are 
coming.  Senator  North  —  he  is  well  worth  meeting  — 
is  Chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee,  and  my  hus- 
band, although  a  new  member,  stands  very  high  with 
the  Chairman  of  his  Committee,  most  of  whom  are  old 
members  of  the  House.  Senator  Ward  also  will  be 
here.  Do  come,  if  you  have  nothing  more  important 
on  hand.  I  can  easily  get  another  member  of  the 
House  Committee." 

"Come  !  I  'd  break  twenty  engagements  to  come." 
Betty's  eyes  sparkled  and  she  lifted  her  head  with  a 
motion  peculiar  to  her  when  reminded  that  she  was 
the  favored  of  the  gods.  "  I  suppose  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  fag  about  this  sort  of  life  to  you,  but  it  has  all 
the  charm  of  the  undiscovered  country  for  me." 

"  Oh,    I    am  deeply  interested,"  said  Lady   Mary. 


Senator  North  27 

The  two  women  were  alone  now,  and  the  hostess,  re- 
leased after  three  hours  of  stereotyped  amenities,  sur- 
rendered herself  to  the  charm  of  natural  intercourse 
with  one  of  her  own  sort,  and  rang  for  tea.  "  I  al- 
ways liked  politics,  and  I  feel  quite  sure  that  my 
husband  will  achieve  his  high  ambitions.  It  interests 
me  greatly  to  help  him." 

"  Of  course  he  '11  be  President !  "  cried  Betty,  en- 
thusiastic in  the  warmth  of  her  new  friendship  and  its 
possibilities.  She  was  surprised  by  a  tilt  of  the  nose 
and  an  emphatic  shake  of  the  head. 

"  No,  indeed  !  "  exclaimed  Lady  Mary,  "  Presidents 
are  politicians  only.  My  husband  aspires  higher  than 
that.  To  be  a  Senator  of  the  first  rank  requires  very 
different  qualities." 

"  Ah  !  I  shall  quote  that  to  Mol —  my  mother.  She 
is  not  predisposed  in  their  favor." 

"  Of  course  there  are  Senators  and  Senators, "  said 
Lady  Mary,  hastily.  "You  can't  get  ninety  men  of 
equal  ability  together,  anywhere.  There  are  the  six 
who  are  admittedly  the  first,  —  North,  Maxwell,  Ward, 
March,  Howard,  and  Eustis,  —  and  about  ten  who  are 
close  behind  them.  Then  there  is  the  venerable  group 
to  which  Senator  Maxwell  also  belongs;  and  the 
younger  men  of  forty-five  or  so  who  are  not  quite 
broken  in  yet,  and  whose  enthusiasm  is  apt  to  take  the 
wrong  direction  ;  and  the  fire-eaters,  Populists  usually ; 
and  the  hard-working  second-rate  men,  many  of  them 
millionaires  (Western,  as  a  rule)  who  are  accused  of  hav- 
ing bought  their  legislatures  to  get  in,  but  who  do  good 
work  on  Committee,  whether  or  not  they  came  under 
the  delusion  that  they  had  bought  an  honor  with  noth- 
ing beneath  it :  a  man  who  presumed  on  his  wealth  in 


28  Senator  North 

the  Senate  would  fare  as  badly  as  a  boy  at  Eton  who 
presumed  on  his  title.  Beyond  all,  are  the  nonentities 
that  are  in  every  body.  So,  you  see,  it  is  worth  while 
to  aim  for  the  first  place  and  to  keep  it." 

"  There  are  certainly  all  sorts  to  choose  from  !  I  '11 
never  mistrust  my  instincts  again.  I  am  glad  I  shall 
meet  Senator  North  to-morrow.  I  suppose  he  is  a 
courtly  person  of  the  old  school  with  a  Websterian 
intellect." 

"  I  don't  know  anything  about  Webster ;  I  can't 
read  your  history  and  live  in  it,  too ;  but  certainly 
there  is  nothing  of  the  old  school  about  Senator  North. 
He  is  very  modern  and  has  a  truly  Republican  —  or 
shall  I  say  aristocratic  ?  —  simplicity  —  although  no  one 
could  dress  better  —  combined  with  a  cold  manner  to 
most  men  and  a  warm  manner  to  most  women." 

"  Tell  me  all  about  him  !  "  exclaimed  Betty,  sipping 
her  tea.  "  I  never  was  so  happy  and  excited  in  my 
life.  I  feel  as  if  I  were  Theodosia  Burr,  or  Nelly 
Custis,  or  Dolly  Madison  come  to  life.  And  now  I  'm 
going  to  know  an  American  statesman  before  his  coat 
has  turned  to  calf-skin.  Quick  !  How  old  is  he  ?  " 

"  Just  sixty,  and  looks  much  younger,  as  most  of  the 
Senators  do.  He  is  a  hard  worker  —  he  is  Chairman 
of  one  Committee  and  a  member  of  five  others ;  a 
brilliant  debater,  the  most  accomplished  legislator  in 
the  Senate,  unyielding  in  his  convictions,  and  abso- 
lutely independent.  He  is  not  popular,  as  it  has 
never  occurred  to  him  to  conciliate  anybody.  He  is 
very  kind  and  attentive  to  his  invalid  wife  and  proud 
of  his  sons,  and  he  adored  a  daughter  who  died  four 
years  ago.  Rumor  has  it  that  more  than  one  charm- 
ing woman  has  consoled  him  for  domestic  afflictions 


Senator  North  29 

and  political  trials,  but  I  do  not  pay  much  attention 
to  rumors  of  that  sort.  How  odd  that  I,  an  alien, 
should  be  instructing  a  Washingtonian  in  politics  and 
the  personalities  of  her  Senators ;  but  I  quite  under- 
stand. I  do  hope  Mrs.  Madison  will  not  object  to 
your  coming  to-morrow  night." 

"  I  shall  come.  And  go  now.  I  feel  a  brute  to 
have  let  you  talk  so  much,  but  I  never  have  been  so 
interested  !  " 

The  two  women  kissed  and  parted  ;  and  Lady  Mary's 
dreams  that  night  were  undisturbed  by  any  vision  of 
herself  in  the  ranks  of  the  Fates. 


IV 

BETTY  returned  home  much  elated  with  the  success 
of  her  visit.  She  heard  the  voice  of  her  cousin  Jack 
Emory  in  the  parlor  and  went  at  once  to  her  room 
to  dress.  The  voice  sounded  solemn,  and  so  did  her 
mother's;  they  doubtless  were  sitting  in  conference 
upon  her.  She  selected  her  evening  gown  with  some 
care;  her  cousin  was  an  old  story,  but  he  was  a  very 
attractive  man,  and  coquetry  would  hold  its  own  in 
her,  become  she  never  so  intellectual. 

Jack  Emory  had  been  her  undeclared  lover  since 
his  middle  teens.  Somewhere  in  the  same  immature 
interval,  just  after  her  first  return  from  Europe,  she 
had  imagined  herself  passionately  in  love  with  him. 
But  she  had  a  large  fortune  left  her  by  her  maternal 
grandfather,  besides  a  hundred  thousand  her  father  had 
died  too  soon  to  spend,  and  Jack  was  the  son  of  a 


30  Senator  North 

Virginian  who  had  been  a  Rebel  to  his  death,  haughtily 
refusing  to  have  his  disabilities  removed,  and  threaten- 
ing to  shoot  any  negro  in  his  employ  who  dared  to  go 
to  the  ballot-box.  He  had  left  his  son  but  a  few 
thousands  out  of  his  large  inheritance,  and  adjured  him 
on  his  death-bed  to  hold  no  office  under  the  Federal 
government  and  to  shoot  a  Yankee  rather  than  shake 
his  hand.  Jack  inherited  his  father's  prejudices  with- 
out his  violent  temper.  He  had  a  contemptuous 
dislike  for  the  North,  a  loathing  for  politics,  and  a 
distaste  for  everybody  outside  his  own  diminishing 
class.  Love  for  Betty  Madison  had  driven  him  West 
in  the  hope  of  retrieving  his  fortunes,  but  he  was  essen- 
tially a  gentleman  and  a  scholar ;  the  hustling  quality 
was  not  in  him,  and  he  returned  South  after  two  years 
of  unpleasant  endeavor  and  started  a  small  produce 
farm  adjoining  an  old  house  on  the  outskirts  of  Wash- 
ington, left  him  by  his  mother.  Here  he  lived  with 
his  books,  and  made  enough  money  to  support  him- 
self decently.  He  never  had  asked  Betty  to  marry 
him,  although  he  knew  that  his  aunt  would  champion 
his  cause.  During  the  period  of  Betty's  maiden  pas- 
sion his  pride  had  caused  her  as  much  suffering  as  her 
youth  and  buoyant  nature  would  permit ;  but  as  the 
years  slipped  by  she  felt  inclined  to  personify  that 
pride  and  burn  a  candle  beneath  it.  Even  before 
her  mind  had  awakened,  the  energy  and  strength  of 
her  character  had  cured  her  of  love  for  a  man  as 
supine  as  Jack  Emory.  He  was  charming  and  well- 
read,  all  that  she  could  desire  in  a  brother,  but 
as  a  husband  he  would  be  intolerable.  As  his  love 
cooled  she  liked  him  better  still,  particularly  as  his 
loyalty  would  not  permit  him  to  acknowledge  even  to 


Senator  North  31 

himself  that  he  could  change  ;  but  its  passing  left  him 
with  fewer  clouds  on  a  rather  melancholy  spirit,  a 
readier  tongue,  and  a  complete  recovery  from  the 
habits  of  sighing  and  of  leaving  the  house  abruptly. 

Betty's  maid  dressed  her  in  a  bright  blue  taffeta, 
softened  with  much  white  lace,  and  she  went  slowly 
down  to  the  hall,  rustling  her  skirts  that  Emory  might 
hear  and  come  out  for  a  word  before  dinner  if  he 
liked.  It  was  a  relief  to  be  able  to  coquet  with  him 
without  fearing  that  he  would  go  home  and  shoot  him- 
self; and  it  helped  him  to  sustain  the  pleasant  fiction 
that  he  still  was  in  love  with  her. 

He  came  out  at  once  and  raised  her  hand  to  his 
lips,  murmuring  a  compliment  as  his  grandfather  might 
have  done.  He  was  only  thirty-two,  but  his  face  was 
sallow  and  lined  from  trouble  and  fever.  Otherwise 
he  was  very  handsome,  with  his  golden  head  and  intel- 
lectual blue  eyes,  his  haughty  profile  and  tall  figure, 
listlessly  carried  as  it  was.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that 
he  took  pride  in  dressing  well,  he  always  looked  a  little 
old-fashioned.  When  with  Betty,  invariably  as  smart 
as  Paris  and  New  York  could  make  her,  he  almost 
appeared  as  if  wearing  his  father's  old  clothes.  His 
Southern  accent  and  intonation  were  nearly  as  broad 
as  a  negro's.  Betty  had  almost  lost  hers  ;  she  retained 
just  enough  to  enrich  and  individualize  without  a  touch 
of  provincialism.  She  belonged  to  that  small  class 
of  Americans  whose  ear-mark  is  the  absence  of  all 
Americanisms. 

Mr.  Emory  looked  perturbed. 

"  There  is  something  I  should  like  to  say,"  he  re- 
marked hesitatingly.  "There  is  yet  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  before  dinner.  I  think  this  old  hall  with  its 


32  Senator  North 

portraits  of  your  grandmothers  is  a  good  place  to  say 
it  in  —  " 

"  Molly  has  pressed  you  into  service,  I  see.  Let  us 
have  it  out,  by  all  means.  Please  straighten  your 
necktie  before  you  begin.  You  cannot  possibly  be 
impressive  while  it  looks  as  if  it  were  standing  on  one 
leg." 

"  Please  be  serious,  Betty  dear.  I  am  indeed  most 
disturbed.  It  surely  cannot  be  that  you  meant  wh.-it 
you  told  your  mother  this  morning,  —  that  you  intended 
to  change  the  whole  current  of  your  life  in  such  an 
unprecedented  manner." 

"  Great  heavens  !  One  would  think  I  was  about 
to  go  on  the  stage  or  enter  a  convent." 

"  I  would  rather  you  did  either  than  soil  your  mind 
with  the  politics  of  this  country.  I  say  nothing  about 
there  being  no  statesmen,  —  there  is  not  an  honest 
man  in  politics  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Union. 
The  country  is  a  sink  of  corruption,  as  far  as  politics 
are  concerned.  Every  Congressman  buys  his  seat  or 
is  put  in  as  the  agent  of  some  disgraceful  trust  or 
syndicate  or  railroad  corporation." 

Betty  drew  her  eyelids  together  in  a  fashion  that 
robbed  her  eyes  of  their  coquetry  and  fire  and  made 
them  look  unpleasantly  judicial. 

"  Exactly  how  much  do  you  know  about  American 
politics?"  she  asked  coldly.  "I  have  known  you 
all  my  life  and  I  never  heard  you  mention  them 
before  —  " 

"I  never  have  considered  them  a  fit  subject  for  you 
to  listen  to  —  " 

"  I  have  been  in  your  library  a  great  many  times  and 
I  do  not  recall  a  copy  of  the  Congressional  Record. 


Senator  North  33 

You  have  said  often  that  you  despise  the  newspapers 
and  only  read  the  telegrams ;  that  the  only  paper  you 
read  through  is  the  London  Times.  So,  I  repeat, 
what  do  you  know  about  the  American  politics  of 
to-day?" 

"  What  I  have  told  you." 

"  Where  did  you  learn  it  ?  Do  you  ever  go  to  the 
Senate  or  the  House?" 

"  God  forbid  !  But  I  am  a  man,  and  those  things 
are  in  the  atmosphere;  a  man's  brain  accumulates 
naturally  all  widely  diffused  impressions.  I  've  been 
a  great  deal  in  the  smoking-cars  of  railroad-trains,  and 
spent  two  years  in  a  Western  State  where  a  man  who 
had  taken  a  fortune  out  of  a  mine  made  no  bones 
of  buying  a  seat  in  the  Senate  from  the  Legislature, 
nor  the  Legislature  about  selling  it.  It  was  the  most 
abominable  transaction  I  ever  came  close  to,  and  had 
as  much  to  do  with  my  leaving  the  place  as  anything 
else." 

"  And  you  mean  to  say  that  you  judge  all  the  old 
States  of  the  country  by  a  newly  settled  community  of 
adventurers  out  West?" 

"  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  are  notorious." 

"  There  are  bad  boys  in  every  school.  What  I  want 
to  know  is  —  can  you  assert  on  your  knowledge  that 
all  the  Southern  and  New  England  States  are  corrupt 
and  send  only  small  politicians  to  Washington?  This 
is  a  more  serious  charge  than  Molly's  assertion  that 
they  all  use  toothpicks." 

"  I  repeat  that  I  do  not  believe  there  is  an  honest 
man  in  that  Capitol." 

"  Do  you  know  this  ?  Have  you  investigated  the 
life  of  every  man  in  the  Senate  and  the  House?" 

3 


34  Senator  North 

"  What  a  good  district  attorney  you  would  make  !  " 
"  You  are  talking  a  lot  of  copybook  platitudes  with 
which  you  have  allowed  your  mind  to  stagnate.  But 
you  must  convince  me,  for  if  what  you  say  is  true  I 
shall  have  nothing  to  do  with  politics.  Let  us  begin 
with  Senator  North.  How  and  when  did  he  buy  his 
seat,  and  what  Trust  does  he  represent?" 

"  Oh,  I  never  have  heard  anything  against  North. 
He  is  too  big  a  gun  in  Washington  — 

"  You  will  admit  then  that  he  is  not  corrupt  —  " 
"  I  don't  doubt  he  has  his  own  methods  —  " 
"  I  don't  care  three  cents  about  your  suppositions. 
I  want  facts.     How  about  Senator  Maxwell?" 

"  He  has  been  in  Congress  since  before  I  was  born. 
One  never  hears  him  discussed." 

"  And  his  Puritanical  State  has  heaped  every  honor 
on  him  that  it  can  think  of.  Tell  me  the  biography  of 
Senator  Ward  —  all  that  is  too  awful  to  be  printed  in 
the  Congressional  Directory  —  " 

"He  is  from  one  of  those  dreadful  Northwestern 
States  and  bound  to  be  corrupt,"  cried  Emory,  trium- 
phantly. He  wished  desperately  that  he  had  waited 
and  got  up  his  case.  He  spoke  from  sincere  con- 
viction. "  There  may  be  a  rag  of  decency  left  in  the 
older  States,  but  the  West  is  positively  fetid.  I  give 
you  my  word  I  am  speaking  the  truth,  Betty  dear, 
and  in  your  own  interest.  If  I  have  no  more  details 
to  give  you,  it  is  because  I  promised  my  father  on 
his  death-bed  that  I  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
politics,  and  I  have  kept  my  word  to  the  extent  of 
reading  as  little  about  them  as  possible.  But  I  can 
assure  you  that  I  know  as  much  about  them  as  anybody 
not  in  the  accursed  business.  It  is  in  the  air —  " 


Senator  North  35 

"  There  are  so  many  things  in  the  air  that  they  get 
mixed  up.  Your  whole  argument  is  based  on  air. 
Now,  man  ami,  you  turn  to  to-morrow  and  study  up 
the  record  of  every  man  in  that  Senate,  as  well  as  the 
legislative  methods  of  his  State.  When  you  know 
all  about  it,  I  shall  be  delighted  to  be  instructed. 
But  I  don't  want  any  more  air.  Now  come  in  to 
dinner,  and  if  you  allude  to  the  subject  before  Molly, 
I  '11  leave  the  table." 

He  bowed  over  her  hand  again  with  his  old-fashioned 
courtesy.  "  When  you  issue  a  command  I  am  bound 
to  obey,"  he  said,  "  and  although  you  have  set  me 
an  unpleasant,  an  obnoxious  task,  I  certainly  shall 
accomplish  that  also  to  the  best  of  my  ability.  You 
belong  to  this  old  house,  Betty,  to  this  old  set ;  I  love 
to  think  of  you  as  the  last  rose  on  the  old  Southern 
tree,  and  you  shall  not  be  blighted  if  I  can  help  it." 

Betty  tapped  him  lightly  with  her  fan. 

"  I  belong  to  the  whole  country,  my  dear  boy ;  I 
am  no  old  cabbage  rose  on  a  half-dead  bush,  but  the 
same  vegetable  under  a  new  name,  —  the  American 
Beauty  Rose.  Do  you  see  the  parable  ?  And  I  've  a 
great  many  thorns  on  my  long  stem.  Remember  that 
also." 


BETTY,  in  accordance  with  a  time-honored  habit,  was 
the  last  to  arrive  at  the  dinner-party  on  the  following 
evening.  She  had  arranged  her  heavy  large-waved 
hair  low  on  her  neck,  and  the  pale  green  velvet  of 
her  gown  lifted  its  dull  mahogany  hue  and  the  deep 


36  Senator  North 

Southern  whiteness  of  her  skin.  She  did  not  take 
a  beautiful  picture,  for  her  features  had  the  national 
irregularity,  but  she  seldom  entered  a  room  that  several 
men  did  not  turn  and  stare  at  her.  She  carried  herself 
with  the  air  of  one  used  to  commanding  the  homage 
of  men,  her  lovely  coloring  was  always  enhanced 
by  dress,  and  she  radiated  magnetism.  It  was  such 
an  alive,  warm,  buoyant  personality  that  men  turned 
to  her  as  naturally  as  children  do  to  the  maternal 
woman ;  even  when  they  did  not  love  her  they  liked 
to  be  near  her,  for  she  recalled  some  vague  ideal. 
She  knew  her  power  perfectly,  and  after  one  or  two 
memorable  lessons  had  put  from  her  the  temptation 
to  give  it  active  exercise.  It  should  be  the  instrument 
of  unqualified  happiness  when  her  hour  came ;  mean- 
while she  cultivated  an  impersonal  attitude  which 
baffled  men  unable  to  propose  and  tempered  the 
wind  to  those  that  could. 

During  the  few  moments  in  the  drawing-room  she 
could  gather  only  a  collective  impression  of  the  men 
who  stared  at  her  to-night.  There  was  a  general 
suggestion  of  weight,  in  the  sculptor's  sense,  and 
repose  combined  with  alertness,  and  they  stood  very 
squarely  on  their  feet.  Betty  had  only  had  time  to 
single  out  one  long  beard  dependent  from  a  visage 
otherwise  shorn,  and  to  observe  further  that  some 
of  the  women  were  charmingly  dressed,  while  others 
wore  light  silk  afternoon  frocks,  when  dinner  was 
announced. 

Her  partner  was  evidently  one  of  the  younger  Sena- 
tors, one  of  those  juvenile  enthusiasts  of  forty-five  who 
beat  their  breasts  for  some  years  upon  the  Senate's 
impassive  front.  He  was  extremely  good-looking, 


Senator  North  37 

with  a  fair  strong  impatient  face,  trimmed  with  a 
moustache  only,  and  a  well-built  figure  full  of  nervous 
energy.  He  had  less  repose  than  most  of  the  men 
about  him,  but  he  suggested  the  same  solidity.  He 
might  fail  or  go  wrong,  but  not  because  there  was 
any  room  in  his  mind  for  shams.  His  name  was 
Burleigh,  but  what  his  section  was,  Betty,  as  they 
exchanged  amenities  and  admired  the  lavish  display 
of  flowers,  could  not  determine ;  he  had  no  accent 
whatever,  and  although  his  voice  was  deep  and  sonor- 
ous, it  had  not  the  peculiar  richness  of  the  South. 
His  gray  eyes  smiled  as  they  met  hers,  and  his  manners 
were  charming ;  but  Betty,  accustomed  to  grasp  the 
salient  points  of  character  in  'a  first  interview,  fancied 
that  he  could  be  overbearing  and  truculent. 

"Are  they  going  to  talk  politics  to-night?"  she 
asked,  when  the  platitudes  had  run  their  course. 

"  I  hope  not.  I  Ve  had  enough  of  politics,  all 
day." 

"Oh,  I  hoped  you  would,"  said  Betty,  in  a  deeply 
disappointed  tone. 

He  looked  amused. 

"Why?"   he  asked. 

"  Oh,  I  am  so  interested.  That  sounds  very  vague, 
but  I  am.  When  Lady  Mary  told  me  she  was  dining 
members  of  the  two  Committees,  I  thought  it  was  to 
talk  politics,  and  —  and  —  settle  it  amicably  or  some- 
thing." Betty  could  look  infantile  when  she  chose, 
and  was  always  ready  to  cover  real  ignorance  with 
an  exaggerated  assumption  which  inspired  doubt. 

"  We  have  the  excessive  pleasure  of  discussing  the 
bill  in  Senator  North's  comfortable  Committee  room 
for  several  hours  every  few  days,  and  we  usually  are 


38  Senator  North 

amiable.  We  are  merely  dining  out  to-night  in  each 
other's  good  company.  Still,  I  guess  your  desire  will 
be  more  or  less  gratified.  Second  nature  is  strong, 
and  one  or  two  will  probably  get  down  to  it  about 
the  middle  of  dinner." 

"You  are  from  New  England,"  exclaimed  Betty, 
triumphantly.  "  I  have  been  waiting  for  you  to  say  '  I 
reckon  '  or  '  I  guess.'  " 

"  I  was  born  and  educated  in  Maine,  but  I  went 
West  to  practise  law  as  soon  as  I  knew  enough,  and  I 
am  Senator  from  one  of  the  middle  Western  States." 

"Ah!"  Betty  gave  him  a  swift  side  glance.  He 
looked  anything  but  "  corrupt,"  and  that  truculent 
note  in  his  voice  did  not  indicate  subservience  to  party 
bosses.  She  determined  to  write  to  Jack  Emory  in  the 
morning  and  command  him  to  look  up  Senator  Bur- 
leigh's  record  at  once. 

"  I  suppose  all  the  Senators  here  to-night  are  the  — 
the  —  big  ones?" 

"  Oh,  no ;  North  and  Ward  are  the  only  two  on  this 
Committee  belonging  to  the  very  first  rank.  The  other 
four  here  are  in  that  group  that  is  pressing  close  upon 
their  heels  ;  and  myself,  who  am  a  new  member  :  I  've 
been  here  four  years  only.  Would  you  mind  telling  me 
who  you  are?  Of  course  American  women  don't  take 
much  interest  in  politics,  but  —  do  you  know  as  little  as 
you  pretend?" 

"  I  wish  I  knew  more ;  but  I  've  been  abroad  for  the 
last  two  years,  and  my  mother  prefers  rattlesnakes  to 
politics.  Which  is  Senator  North?  " 

"  He  is  at  the  head  of  the  table  with  Lady  Mar}',  but 
that  rosebush  is  in  the  way ;  you  cannot  see  him." 

"And  which  is  Senator  Ward?" 


Senator  Nortli  39 

"  Over  there  by  Mrs.  Shattuc,  —  the  woman  in  ivory- 
white  and  heliotrope." 

Betty  flashed  him  a  glance  of  renewed  interest. 
"  You  like  women,"  she  exclaimed.  "  And  you  must 
be  married,  or  have  sisters." 

"  I  like  women  and  I  am  not  married,  nor  have  I  any 
sisters.  I  particularly  like  woman's  dress.  If  you  '11 
pardon  me,  that  combination  of  pale  green  and  white 
lace  and  soft  stuff  is  the  most  stunning  thing  I  Ve  seen 
for  a  long  while." 

"  Law,  politics,  and  woman's  dress  !  How  hard  you 
must  have  worked  !  " 

"  Our  strong  natural  inclinations  help  us  so  much  !  " 
He  gave  her  an  amused  glance,  and  his  manner  was  a 
trifle  patronizing,  as  of  a  prominent  man  used  to  the 
admiration  of  pretty  girls.  It  was  evident  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  her  and  her  long  line  of  conquests. 

"Senator  Ward  looks  half  asleep,"  she  remarked 
abruptly. 

"He  usually  does  until  dinner  is  two-thirds  over. 
He  is  Chairman  of  one  Committee  and  serving  on  two 
others ;  and  all  have  important  bills  before  them  at 
present.  So  he  is  tired." 

"  He  doesn't  look  corrupt." 

"Corrupt?  Who?  Ward?  Who  on  earth  ever  said 
he  was  corrupt?  " 

"Well,  I  heard  his  State  was." 

" '  Corruption '  is  the  father  of  more  platitudes  than 
any  word  in  the  American  language.  There  are  corrupt 
men  in  his  State,  no  doubt,  and  one  of  the  Trusts  with 
which  we  are  ridden  at  present  tried  to  buy  its  Legis- 
lature and  put  their  man  in.  But  Ward  won  his  fight 
without  the  expenditure  of  a  dollar  beyond  paying  for 


40  Senator  North 

the  band  and  a  few  courtesies  of  that  sort.  His  State 
is  proud  of  him  both  as  a  statesman  and  a  scholar,  and 
he  is  likely  to  stay  in  the  Senate  until  he  drops  in  his 
tracks." 

"  Then  he  comes  here  with  the  intention  of  remain- 
ing for  life?  I  think  you  should  all  do  that." 

"  You  are  quite  right.  When  a  man  achieves  the 
honor  of  being  elected  honestly  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  —  it  is  the  highest  honor  in  the  Republic,  —  he 
should  feel  that  he  is  dedicating  himself  to  the  service 
of  the  country,  and  should  have  so  arranged  his  affairs 
that  he  can  stay  there  for  life." 

Betty's  eyes  kindled  with  approval.  "  Oh,  I  am 
glad,"  she  said,  "  I  am  glad." 

"  Glad  of  what,  may  I  ask  ?  " 

"  Oh  —  "  And  then  she  impulsively  told  him  some- 
thing of  her  history,  of  her  determination  to  take  up 
politics  as  her  ruling  interest,  and  of  the  opposition 
of  her  mother  and  cousin.  Senator  Burleigh  listened 
with  deep  attention,  and  if  he  was  amused  he  was  too 
gallant  to  betray  the  fact,  now  that  she  had  honored 
him  with  her  confidence. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "that  is  very  interesting,  very. 
And  you  are  quite  right.  You  '11  do  yourself  good  and 
us  good.  Mind  you  stand  to  your  guns.  Would  you 
mind  telling  me  your  name  ?  Lady  Mary  never  thinks 
a  mere  name  worth  mentioning." 

"  Madison  —  Elizabeth  Madison.  I  had  almost  for- 
gotten the  Elizabeth.  I  have  always  been  called 
Betty." 

"  Ah  !  "  he  said,  "  ah  !  "  He  turned  and  regarded 
her  with  a  deeper  interest. 

"  Have  you  heard  of  me?"  she  asked  irresistibly. 


Senator  North  41 

"Who  has  not?"  he  said  gallantly.  "And  although 
you  are  a  great  deal  younger  than  I,  —  I  am  forty- four, 
—  my  father,  who  was  in  Congress  before  me,  was  a 
great  friend  of  your  father's.  He  wears  a  watch  to  this 
day  that  Mr.  Madison  gave  him.  He  always  expressed 
regret  that  he  never  met  your  mother,  but  she  seemed 
to  have  an  unconquerable  aversion  to  politics." 

"  And  they  met  at  Chamberlin's  !  "  exclaimed  Betty, 
with  a  delighted  laugh.  "  It  will  be  the  last  straw  — 
my  having  gone  into  dinner  with  the  son  of  one  of 
papa's  hated  boon  companions.  My  mother  is  a  lovely 
intelligent  woman,"  she  added  hastily,  "but  she  is  in- 
tensely Southern  and  conservative.  Her  great  pride  is 
that  she  never  changes  a  standard  once  established." 

"  Oh,  that 's  a  very  safe  quality  in  a  woman.  But  of 
course  you  have  a  right  to  establish  your  own,  and  I 
am  glad  it  points  in  our  direction.  And  anything  you 
want  to  know  I  '11  be  glad  to  tell  you.  Can't  I  take 
you  up  to  the  Senate  to-morrow  and  put  you  in  our 
private  gallery?  There  ought  to  be  some  good  debat- 
ing, for  North  is  going  to  attack  an  important  bill  that 
is  on  the  calendar." 

"  I  will  go  ;  but  let  me  meet  you  there.  I  must  ask 
you  to  call  in  due  form  first,  as  my  poor  mother  must 
not  have  too  many  shocks.  Will  you  come  a  week 
from  Sunday  ?  —  I  am  going  to  New  York  for  a  few 
days." 

"  I  will,  indeed.  If  I  were  unselfish,  I  should  let  you 
listen  for  a  few  minutes,  for  they  are  all  talking  poli- 
tics ;  not  bills,  however,  but  the  possibility  of  war  with 
Spain.  I  don't  think  I  shall,  though.  Tell  me  what 
you  want  to  know  and  I  will  begin  our  lessons  right 
here." 


42  Senator  North 

"  Why  should  we  go  to  war  with  Spain?  " 

"  Oh  dear  !  Oh  dear  !  Where  have  you  been  ? 
There  is  a  small  island  off  the  coast  of  Florida  called 
Cuba.  It  has  many  natives,  and  they  are  oppressed, 
tormented,  tortured  by  Spain." 

"  I  visited  Cuba  once.  They  are  nothing  but  a  lot 
of  negroes  and  frightfully  dirty.  Why  should  we  go  to 
war  about  them?  " 

"  Only  about  one-third  are  negroes  and  there  is  a 
large  brilliantly  educated  and  travelled  upper  class. 
And  I  see  you  need  instruction  in  more  things  than 
politics,  —  humanity,  for  instance.  Forget  that  you 
are  a  Southerner,  divorce  yourself  from  traditions,  and 
try  to  imagine  several  hundred  thousand  people  — 
women  and  children,  principally  —  starving,  hopeless, 
homeless,  unspeakably  wretched.  Cannot  you  feel  for 
them?" 

"  Oh,  yes  !  yes  !  "  Betty's  quick  sympathy  sent  the 
tears  to  her  eyes,  and  he  looked  at  her  with  deepen- 
ing admiration,  —  a  fact  the  tears  did  not  prevent  her 
from  grasping.  "  And  are  we  going  to  war  in  order 
to  release  them  ?  " 

"  Ah  !  I  do  not  know.  There  is  a  war  feeling  grow- 
ing in  the  country ;  there  is  no  doubt  of  that.  But 
how  high  it  will  grow  no  one  can  tell.  The  leading 
men  in  Congress  are  indifferent,  and  won't  even  listen 
to  recognizing  the  Cubans  as  belligerents.  North 
will  not  discuss  the  subject,  and  I  doubt  not  is  talking 
over  the  latest  play  with  Lady  Mary  at  the  present 
moment." 

"And  you?     Do  you  want  war ?" 

"I  do ! "  His  manner  gave  sudden  rein  to  its 
inherent  nervousness,  and  his  voice  rang  out  for  a 


Senator  North  43 

moment  as  if  he  were  angrily  haranguing  the  Senate. 
"  Of  course  I  want  it.  Every  human  instinct  I  have 
compels  me  to  want  it,  and  I  cannot  understand  the 
apathy  and  conservatism  which  prevents  our  being  at 
war  at  the  present  moment.  We  have  posed  as  the 
champions  of  liberty  long  enough ;  it  is  time  we  did 
something." 

"  Ah,  this  is  the  youthful  enthusiasm  of  the  Senate," 
thought  Betty.  "And  I  have  been  accustomed  to 
think  of  forty-five  as  quite  elderly.  I  feel  a  mere 
infant  and  shall  not  call  myself  an  old  maid  till  I  'm 
fifty."  She  smiled  approvingly  into  the  Senator's 
illuminated  face,  and  he  plunged  at  once  into  details, 
including  the  entire  history  of  Spanish  colonial  mis- 
rule. The  history  was  told  in  head-lines,  so  to  speak, 
but  it  was  graphic  and  convincing.  Betty  nodded 
encouragingly  and  asked  an  occasional  intelligent 
question.  She  knew  the  history  of  Spain  as  thoroughly 
as  he  did,  but  she  would  not  have  told  him  so  for  the 
world.  It  is  only  the  woman  with  a  certain  masculine 
fibre  in  her  brain  who  ever  really  understands  men, 
and  when  these  women  have  coquetry  also,  they  con- 
vince the  sex  born  to  admire  that  they  are  even  more 
feminine  than  their  weaker  sisters.  When  Senator 
Burleigh  finished,  Betty  thanked  him  so  graciously  and 
earnestly,  with  such  lively  pleasure  in  her  limpid  hazel 
eyes,  that  he  raised  his  glass  impulsively  and  touched  it 
to  hers. 

"You  must  have  a  salon,"  he  exclaimed.  "  We 
need  one  in  Washington,  and  it  would  do  us  incalcu- 
lable good.  Only  you  could  accomplish  it :  you  not 
only  have  beauty  and  brains  —  and  tact  ?  —  but  you 
are  so  apart  that  you  can  pick  and  choose  without  fear 


44  Senator  North 

of  giving  offence.  And  you  are  not  blasce  of  the  sub- 
ject like  Congressmen's  wives,  nor  has  the  wild  rush 
and  wear  and  tear  of  official  society  chopped  up  your 
individuality  into  a  hundred  little  bits.  It  would  be 
brutal  to  mention  politics  to  a  woman  in  political  life, 
and  consequently  we  feel  as  if  no  one  takes  any  interest 
in  us  unless  she  has  an  axe  to  grind.  But  you  are 
what  we  all  have  been  waiting  for  I  feel  sure  of  that  ! 
Let  it  be  understood  that  no  mere  politician,  no  man 
who  bought  his  legislature  or  is  under  suspicion  in 
regard  to  any  Trust,  can  enter  your  doors.  Of  course 
you  will  have  to  study  the  whole  question  thoroughly ; 
and  mind,  I  am  to  be  your  instructor-in-chief." 

Betty  laughed  and  thanked  him,  wondering  how 
well  he  understood  her.  He  looked  like  a  man  who 
would  waste  no  time  on  the  study  of  woman's  subtle- 
ties :  he  knew  what  he  wanted,  and  recognized  the 
desired  qualities  at  once,  but  by  a  strong  masculine 
instinct,  not  by  analysis. 

A  few  moments  later  the  women  went  into  the 
drawing-room,  and  the  conversation  for  the  next  half- 
hour  was  a  languid  babble  of  politics,  dress,  New 
York,  the  lady  of  the  White  House,  and  the  play. 
Betty  thought  the  women  very  nice,  but  less  interesting 
than  the  men,  possibly  because  they  were  women.  They 
certainly  looked  more  intelligent  than  the  average  one 
sat  with  during  the  trying  half-hour  after  dinner ;  but 
their  conversation  was  fragmentary,  and  they  oddly 
suggested  having  left  their  personality  at  home  and 
taken  their  shell  out  to  dinner.  Betty  also  was  in- 
terested to  observe  that  their  composite  expression 
was  a  curious  mingling  of  fatigue,  unselfishness,  and 
peremptoriness. 


Senator  North  45 

"What  does  it  mean?"  she  asked  of  Lady  Mary, 
with  whom  she  stood  apart  for  a  moment. 

"  Oh,  they  are  worked  to  death,  —  paying  calls,  en- 
tertaining, receiving  people  on  all  sorts  of  business, 
and  helping  their  husbands  in  various  ways.  They 
have  no  time  to  be  selfish,  —  rich  or  poor,  —  and  they 
have  acquired  the  art  of  disposing  of  bores  and  detri- 
mentals in  short  order.  Even  their  own  sort  they  pass 
on  much  in  the  fashion  of  royalty.  How  do  you  like 
Senator  Burleigh?" 

"  I  never  learned  so  much  in  two  hours  in  my  life. 
My  head  feels  like  a  beehive." 

"  I  never  saw  him  quite  so  devoted." 

"  I  thought  you  were  occupied  with  Senator  North." 

"  I  was,  but  my  eyes  and  ears  understand  each  other. 
He  wants  to  meet  you  after  dinner.  He  knows  all 
about  you." 

"  He  has  been  pointed  out  to  me,  but  in  those 
days  when  I  was  only  interested  in  possible  partners 
for  the  German.  I  do  not  recall  him." 

"  That  is  he,  the  second  one." 

The  men  were  entering  the  drawing-room.  Betty 
was  relieved  that  the  political  beard  was  not  on  Sen- 
ator North.  He  wore  only  a  very  short  moustache  on 
his  ugly  powerful  face. 

He  stood  for  a  few  moments  talking  to  his  host,  and 
Betty,  to  whom  the  political  beard  was  immediately 
presented,  gave  him  an  occasional  glance  of  explora- 
tion while  her  companion  was  assuring  her,  with  neither 
a  twang  nor  an  accent,  that  he  had  long  looked  forward 
to  the  pleasure  of  meeting  the  famous  Miss  Betty 
Madison.  Senator  Shattuc  was  in  his  late  fifties,  but 
it  was  evident  that  the  cares  of  Congress  had  not 


46  Senator  North 

smothered  his  appreciation  of  a  pretty  woman.  He 
had  a  strong  face  and  an  infantile  complexion,  and  his 
beard  sparkled  with  care.  Senator  Ward,  who  was 
presented  a  few  moments  later,  told  her  that  he  had 
envied  Burleigh  throughout  the  long  dinner.  Betty 
decided  that  the  senatorial  manner  certainly  was 
agreeable. 

The  two  men  fell  into  conversation  with  one  another, 
and  Betty  turned  her  attention  to  Senator  North.  He 
was  standing  alone  for  the  moment,  glancing  about  the 
room.  His  attitude  was  one  of  absolute  repose ;  he 
did  not  look  as  if  he  ever  had  hurried  or  wasted  his 
energies  or  lost  his  self-control  in  his  life.  His  face 
was  impenetrable ;  his  eyes,  black  and  piercing,  were 
wholly  without  that  limpidity  which  reveals  depths  and 
changes  of  expression ;  his  mouth  was  somewhat  con- 
temptuous, and  betrayed  neither  tenderness  nor  humor. 
If  possible,  he  stood  even  more  squarely  on  his  feet 
than  the  other  men.  He  had  the  powerful  thick-set 
figure  which  invariably  harbors  strong  passions. 

"  I  don't  know  whether  I  like  him  or  not,"  thought 
Betty.  "  I  think  I  don't  —  but  perhaps  I  do.  He 
might  be  made  of  New  England  rock,  and  he  looks  as 
if  the  earth  could  swallow  him  before  he'd  yield  an 
inch.  But  I  can  feel  his  magnetism  over  here.  Why 
have  all  these  men  so  much  magnetism  ?  Is  that,  too, 
senatorial?" 

Senator  North  caught  her  eye  at  the  moment,  and 
turned  at  once  to  Lady  Mary.  A  moment  later  he 
had  been  presented  to  Betty  and  they  stood  alone. 

"  I  once  mended  your  hoop  for  you,  when  you  were 
a  little  girl,  just  in  front  of  your  house ;  but  I  am  afraid 
you  have  forgotten  it." 


Senator  North  47 

"  Oh,  —  I  think  I  do  remember  it.  Yes  —  I  do." 
She  evoked  the  incident  out  of  the  mists  of  childish 
memories.  "  Was  it  you  ?  I  am  afraid  I  was  looking 
harder  at  the  hoop  than  at  its  mender.  But  —  I  recall 
—  I  thought  how  kind  you  were." 

And  then  he  inquired  for  her  mother,  and  spoke 
pleasantly  of  his  own  and  his  wife's  acquaintance  with 
Mrs.  Madison  at  Bar  Harbor.  Betty  wondered  after- 
ward why  she  had  thought  his  face  repellent.  His 
eyes  defied  investigation,  but  his  mouth  relaxed  into  a 
smile  that  was  very  kind,  and  his  voice  had  almost  a 
caress  in  it.  But  at  the  moment  she  was  too  eager  to 
hear  him  express  himself  to  receive  a  strong  personal 
impression,  and  while  she  was  casting  about  in  her 
mind  for  a  leader,  she  was  obliged  to  give  him  her 
hand. 

"Good-night,"  she  said  with  a  little  pout,  "I  am 
so  sorry." 

"  So  am  I,"  he  said,  smiling,  and  shaking  her  hand. 
"  Good-night.  I  shall  look  forward  to  meeting  you 
again  soon." 

"  Miss  Madison,  may  I  see  you  to  your  carriage  ?  " 
asked  Senator  Burleigh.  "I  have  tried  to  get  near 
you  ever  since  dinner,"  he  said  discontentedly,  as  they 
walked  down  the  hall,  "  and  now  you  are  going.  But 
you  will  come  to  the  Senate  to-morrow?  Come  right 
up  to  the  door  of  the  Senators'  Gallery  at  precisely 
three  o'clock  and  I  will  meet  you  there." 

A  few  moments  later,  Betty  paused  on  her  way  to 
her  own  room  and  opened  her  mother's  door  softly. 

"  Molly,"  she  whispered. 

"  Well?  "  asked  a  severe  voice. 

"  I  went  in  to  dinner  with  the  son  of  one  of  papa's 


48  Senator  North 

old  Chamberlin  companions,  and  he  was  simply  charm- 
ing. So  were  all  the  others,  and  I  never  met  a  man  who 
could  shake  hands  as  well  as  Senator  North.  I  had  a 
heavenly  time." 

Mrs.  Madison  groaned  and  turned  her  face  to  the 
wall. 

"  And  there  was  n't  a  toothpick,  and  I  did  n't  hear  a 
twang." 

"  Kindly  allow  me  to  go  to  sleep." 


VI 

As  soon  as  Betty  awoke  the  next  morning,  she  turned 
her  mind  to  the  events  of  the  night  before.  Unlike 
most  occasions  eagerly  anticipated,  it  had  contained  no 
disappointment;  she  had,  indeed,  been  pleasurably 
surprised,  for  despite  her  strong  common-sense  the 
dark  picture  of  corruption  and  objectionable  toilet 
accessories  had  made  its  impression  upon  her.  She 
foresaw  much  amusement  in  witnessing  the  unwilling 
surrender  of  her  mother  to  even  Senator  Shattuc,  him 
of  the  political  beard.  As  for  Senator  Burleigh,  she 
would  yield  to  his  magnetism  and  power  of  compelling 
interest  in  himself,  while  pronouncing  his  manners  too 
abrupt  and  his  personality  too  "  Western."  ,  And  if  he 
admired  intelligently  the  old  lace  which  she  always 
wore  at  her  throat  and  wrists  and  on  her  pretty  head, 
she  would  confess  that  there  might  be  exceptions  even 
to  political  rules. 

But   somewhat   to   Betty's   surprise    it   was  not  of 
Senator  Burleigh  that  she  thought  most,  although  she 


Senator  North  49 

had  talked  with  him  for  two  hours  and  pronounced 
him  charming.  She  had  talked  with  Senator  North 
for  exactly  six  minutes,  but  she  saw  his  face  more  dis- 
tinctly than  Burleigh's  and  retained  his  voice  in  her 
ear.  He  had  not  paid  her  a  compliment,  but  his 
manner  had  expressed  that  she  interested  him  and 
that  he  thought  her  worth  meeting.  For  the  first  time 
in  her  life  Betty  felt  flattered  by  the  admiration  of  a 
man ;  and  she  had  held  her  own  with  more  than  one 
of  distinction  on  the  other  side.  Even  royalty  had 
not  fluttered  her,  but  she  conceived  an  eager  desire 
to  make  this  man  think  well  of  her.  It  irritated  her 
to  remember  that  she  could  have  made  no  mental 
impression  on  him  whatever.  She  became  uncheerful, 
and  reflected  that  the  subtle  flattery  in  his  manner 
was  probably  a  mere  habit ;  Lady  Mary  had  intimated 
that  he  liked  women  and  had  loved  several.  Well, 
she  cared  nothing  about  that;  he  was  thirty  years 
older  than  herself  and  married ;  but  she  admired  him 
and  wished  for  his  good  opinion  and  to  hear  him  talk. 
Doubtless  they  soon  would  meet  again,  and  if  they 
were  left  in  conversation  for  a  decent  length  of  time 
she  would  ask  him  to  call.  She  cast  about  in  her 
mind  for  a  subterfuge  which  would  justify  a  note,  but 
she  could  think  of  none,  and  was  too  worldly-wise  to 
evoke  a  smile  from  the  depths  of  a  man's  conceit. 

Her  mother  refused  to  bid  her  good-by  when, 
accompanied  by  her  maid,  she  started  for  the  Capitol 
at  twenty  minutes  to  three.  A  few  moments  later  she 
found  herself  admiring  for  the  first  time  the  big  stately 
building  on  the  hill  at  the  end  of  Pennsylvania  Avenue. 
She  always  had  thought  Washington  a  beautiful  city,  with 
its  wide  quiet  avenues  set  thick  with  trees,  its  graceful 

4 


50  Senator  North 

parks,  each  with  a  statue  of  some  man  gratefully  re- 
membered by  the  Republic,  but  she  had  given  little 
heed  to  its  public  buildings  and  their  significance.  As 
she  approached  the  great  white  Capitol,  she  experi- 
enced a  sudden  thrill  of  that  historical  sense  which, 
after  its  awakening,  dominates  so  actively  the  large 
intelligence.  The  Capitol  symbolized  the  greatness 
of  the  young  nation ;  all  the  famous  American  states- 
men after  the  first  group  had  moved  and  made  their 
reputations  within  its  walls.  All  laws  affecting  the 
nation  came  out  of  it,  and  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  sat  there.  And  of  its  kind  there  was  none  other 
in  the  civilized  world,  had  been  but  one  other  since 
the  world  began. 

The  historic  building  shed  an  added  lustre  upon 
Senator  Burleigh ;  but  it  was  of  Senator  North  that 
she  thought  most  as  she  half  rose  in  the  Victoria  and 
scanned  the  long  sweep.  The  cleverest  of  women 
cannot  class  with  anything  like  precision  the  man  who 
has  stamped  himself  into  her  imagination.  Betty 
knew  that  there  were  six  men  in  the  Senate  who 
ranked  as  equals ;  their  quiet  epoch  gave  them  little 
chance  to  discover  latent  genius  other  than  for  con- 
structive legislation;  nevertheless  she  arbitrarily  con- 
ceived the  Capitol  to-day  as  the  great  setting  for  one 
man  only ;  and  the  building  and  the  man  became  one 
in  her  imagination  henceforth.  The  truth  was  that 
Betty,  being  greatly  endowed  for  loving  and  finding 
that  all  men  fell  short  of  her  high  standard,  was  forced 
to  seek  companionship  in  an  ideal.  She  had  had 
several  loves  in  history,  but  had  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion some  years  since  that  dead  men  were  unsatisfac- 
tory. Since  then  she  had  fancied  mightily  one  or  two 


Senator  North  51 

public  men  on  the  other  side,  whom  she  had  never 
met ;  but  in  time  they  had  bored  or  disappointed  her. 
But  here  was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  her  own  country, 
appealing  to  her  through  the  powerful  medium  of 
patriotic  pride ;  a  man  so  much  alive  that  he  might 
at  any  moment  hold  the  destinies  of  the  United  States 
in  his  hands,  and  who,  owing  to  his  years  and  impene- 
trable dignity,  was  not  to  be  considered  from  the 
ordinary  view-point  of  woman.  She  would  coquet  with 
Senator  Burleigh ;  it  was  on  the  cards  that  she  would 
love  him,  for  he  was  brilliant,  ambitious,  and  honor- 
able ;  but  Senator  North  was  exalted  to  the  vacant 
pedestal  reserved  for  ideals,  and  Betty  settled  her- 
self comfortably  to  his  worship ;  not  guessing  that  he 
would  be  under  her  memory's  dust-heap  in  ten  days 
if  Senator  Burleigh  captured  her  heart. 

The  coachman  was  directed  by  a  policeman  to  the 
covered  portico  of  the  Senate  wing.  Betty  had  a  bare 
glimpse  of  corridors  apparently  interminable,  before 
another  policeman  put  her  into  the  elevator  and  told 
her  to  get  off  when  the  boy  said  "  Gallery." 

Senator  Burleigh  was  waiting  for  her,  and  she 
thought  him  even  manlier  and  more  imposing  in  his 
gray  tweed  than  in  evening  dress.  He  shook  her 
hand  heartily,  and  assured  her  in  his  abrupt  dictatorial 
way  that  it  gave  him  the  greatest  pleasure  to  meet 
her  again. 

"  I  'm  sorry  I  have  n't  time  to  take  you  all  over  the 
building,"  he  said,  "  but  I  have  two  Committee  meet- 
ings this  afternoon.  You  must  come  down  some 
morning." 

His  manner  was  very  businesslike,  and  he  seemed 
a  trifle  absent  as  he  paused  a  moment  and  called  her 


52  Senator  North 

attention  to  the  daub  illustrating  the  Electoral  Com- 
mission ;  but  this,  Betty  assumed,  was  the  senatorial 
manner  by  day.  In  a  moment  he  led  her  to  one  of 
the  doors  in  the  wall  that  encloses  the  Senate  Gallery. 

"You  see  this  lady,"  he  said  peremptorily  to  the 
doorkeeper,  who  rose  hastily  from  his  chair.  "  She 
is  always  to  be  admitted  to  this  gallery.  Take  a  good 
look  at  her." 

"Yes,  sir;  member  of  your  family,  I  presume?" 

"  You  can  assume  that  she  is  my  sister.  Only  see 
that  you  admit  her." 

"  The  rules  are  very  strict  in  regard  to  this  gallery," 
he  added,  as  he  closed  the  door  behind  them.  "  It 
is  only  for  the  families  of  the  Senators,  but  you  will 
like  it  better  than  the  reserved  gallery.  Send  for  me  if 
there  should  be  trouble  at  any  time  about  admittance." 

"  I  usually  get  where  I  wish !  I  sha'n't  trouble 
you." 

"  Don't  you  ever  think  twice  about  troubling  me," 
he  said.  "  Let  us  go  down  to  the  front  row." 

The  galleries  surrounding  the  great  Chamber  were 
almost  dark  under  the  flat  roof,  but  the  space  below 
was  full  of  light.  It  looked  very  sumptuous  with  its 
ninety  desks  and  easy-chairs,  and  a  big  fire  beyond  an 
open  door ;  and  very  legislative  with  its  president  ele- 
vated above  the  Senators  and  the  row  of  clerks  be- 
neath him.  There  were  perhaps  thirty  Senators  in  the 
room,  and  they  were  talking  in  groups  or  couples, 
reading  newspapers,  or  writing  letters.  One  Senator 
was  making  a  speech. 

"  I  don't  think  they  are  very  polite,"  said  Betty. 
"Why  don't  they  listen?  He  seems  to  be  in  earnest 
and  speaks  very  nicely." 


Senator  North  53 

"  Oh,  he  is  talking  to  his  constituents,  not  to  the 
Senate — although  he  would  be  quite  pleased  if  it 
would  listen  to  him.  He  does  not  amount  to  much. 
We  listen  to  each  other  when  it  is  worth  while ;  but 
this  is  a  Club,  Miss  Madison,  the  most  delightful  Club 
in  the  United  States.  Just  beyond  are  the  cloak- 
rooms, where  we  can  lounge  before  the  fire  and  smoke, 
or  lie  down  and  go  to  sleep.  The  hard  work  is  in  the 
Committee  rooms,  and  it  is  hard  enough  to  justify  all 
the  pleasure  we  can  get  out  of  the  other  side  of  the 
life.  Now,  I  '11  tell  you  who  these  are  and  something 
about  them." 

He  pointed  out  one  after  the  other  in  his  quick 
businesslike  way,  rattling  off  biographical  details ;  but 
Betty,  feeling  that  she  was  getting  but  a  mass  of 
impressions  with  many  heads,  interrupted  him. 

"  I  don't  see  Senator  North,"  she  said.  "  I  thought 
he  was  going  to  speak." 

"  He  will,  later.  He  is  in  his  Committee  room  now, 
but  he  '11  go  down  as  soon  as  a  page  takes  him  word 
that  the  clerk  is  about  to  read  the  bill  whose  Com- 
mittee amendments  he  is  sure  to  object  to.  Now  I 
must  go.  I  shall  give  myself  the  pleasure  of  calling 
a  week  from  Sunday.  You  must  come  often,  and 
always  come  here.  And  let  me  give  you  two  pieces 
of  advice  :  never  bow  to  any  Senator  from  up  here,  and 
never  go  to  the  Marble  Room  and  send  in  a  card. 
Then  you  can  come  every  day  without  attracting  atten- 
tion. Good-bye." 

Betty  thanked  him,  and  he  departed.  For  the  next 
hour  she  found  the  proceedings  very  dull.  The  unre- 
garded Senator  finished  his  speech  and  retired  behind 
a  newspaper.  Other  members  clapped  their  hands, 


54  Senator  North 

and  the  pages  scampered  down  the  gangways  and 
carried  back  documents  to  the  clerk  below  the  Vice- 
President's  chair,  while  their  senders  made  a  few  re- 
marks meaningless  to  Betty.  Two  or  three  delivered 
brief  speeches  which  were  equally  unintelligible  to  one 
not  acquainted  with  current  legislation.  During  one 
of  them  a  man  of  imposing  appearance  entered  and  was 
apparently  congratulated  by  almost  every  one  in  the 
room,  the  Senators  leaving  their  seats  and  coming  to 
the  middle  aisle,  where  he  stood,  to  shake  him  by  the 
hand.  Betty  felt  sorry  for  Leontine,  who  was  on  the 
verge  of  tears,  but  determined  to  remain  until  Senator 
North  appeared  if  she  did  not  leave  until  it  should  be 
time  to  dress  for  dinner. 

He  entered  finally  and  went  straight  to  his  desk. 
He  looked  preoccupied,  and  began  writing  at  once. 
In  a  few  moments  the  clerk  commenced  to  read 
from  a  document,  and  Senator  North  laid  aside  his 
pen  and  listened  attentively.  So  did  several  other 
Senators.  It  was  a  very  long  document,  and  Betty, 
who  could  not  understand  one  word  in  ten  as  delivered 
by  the  clerk's  rumbling  monotonous  voice,  was  des- 
perately bored,  and  was  glad  her  Senators  had  the 
solace  of  the  cloak-rooms.  Several  did  in  fact  retire 
to  them,  but  when  the  clerk  sat  down  and  Senator 
North  rose,  they  returned ;  and  Betty  felt  a  personal 
pride  in  the  fact  that  they  were  about  to  listen  to  the 
Senator  whom  herself  had  elected  to  honor. 

She  had  to  lean  forward  and  strain  her  ears  to  hear 
him.  It  was  evident  that  he  did  not  recognize  the 
existence  of  the  gallery,  for  he  did  not  raise  his  voice 
from  beginning  to  end ;  and  yet  it  was  of  that  strong 
rich  quality  that  might  have  carried  far.  But  it 


Senator  North  55 

neither  "  rang  out  like  a  clarion,"  nor  "  thundered  im- 
precation." Neither  did  he  utter  an  impassioned 
phrase  nor  waste  a  word,  but  he  denounced  the  bill 
as  a  party  measure,  exposed  its  weak  points,  riddled 
it  with  sarcasm,  and  piled  up  damaging  evidence  of 
partisan  zeal.  "  This  is  an  honorable  body,"  he  con- 
cluded, "  and  few  measures  go  out  of  it  that  are  open 
to  serious  criticism  by  the  self-constituted  guardians  of 
legislative  virtue,  but  if  this  bill  goes  through  the 
Senate  we  shall  invite  from  the  thinking  people  of  the 
country  the  same  sort  of  criticism  which  we  now 
receive  from  the  ignorant.  If  the  high  standard  of 
this  body  is  to  be  maintained,  it  must  be  by  sound  and 
conservative  legislation,  not  by  grovelling  to  future 
legislatures." 

Having  administered  this  final  slap,  he  sat  down  and 
began  writing  again,  apparently  paying  no  attention 
to  the  Chairman  of  the  bill,  who  defended  his  measure 
with  eloquence  and  vigor.  It  was  a  good  speech,  but 
it  contained  more  words  than  the  one  that  had  pro- 
voked it  and  fewer  points.  Senator  North  replied 
briefly  that  the  only  chance  for  the  bill  was  for  its 
father  to  refrain  from  calling  attention  to  its  weak 
points,  then  went  into  the  Republican  cloak-room, 
presumably  to  smoke  a  cigar.  Betty,  whose  head 
ached,  went  home. 


VII 

THAT  evening,  as  Betty  was  rummaging  through  a  cup- 
board in  the  library  looking  for  a  seal,  she  came  upon 
a  box  of  Cuban  cigars.  They  could  have  been  her 


56  Senator  North 

father's  only  and  of  his  special  importation :  he  had 
smoked  the  choicest  tobacco  that  Havana  had  been 
able  to  furnish. 

She  knew  that  many  men  would  prize  that  box  of 
cigars,  carefully  packed  in  lead  and  ripened  by  time, 
and  she  suddenly  determined  to  send  it  to  Senator 
North.  She  felt  that  it  would  be  an  acute  pleasure 
to  give  him  something,  and  as  for  the  cigars  they  were 
too  good  for  any  one  else.  She  took  the  box  to  her 
room  and  wrapped  it  up  carefully  and  badly;  but 
when  she  came  to  the  note  which  must  accompany  it, 
she  paused  before  the  difficulties  which  mechanically 
presented  themselves.  Senator  North  might  naturally 
feel  surprise  to  receive  a  present  from  a  young  woman 
with  whom  he  had  talked  exactly  six  minutes.  If  she 
wrote  playfully,  offering  a  small  tribute  at  the  shrine  of 
statesmanship,  he  might  wonder  if  she  worked  slippers 
for  handsome  young  clergymen  and  burned  candles 
before  the  photograph  of  a  popular  tenor.  She  might 
send  them  anonymously,  but  that  would  not  give  her 
the  least  satisfaction.  Finally,  she  reluctantly  decided 
to  wait  until  she  met  him  again  and  could  lead  the 
conversation  up  to  cigars.  "  Perhaps  he  will  see  me 
in  the  gallery  to-morrow,"  she  thought. 

But  although  he  sat  in  his  comfortable  revolving- 
chair  for  two  hours  the  next  afternoon,  he  never  lifted 
his  eyes  to  the  gallery.  She  heard  several  brief  and 
excellent  speeches,  but  went  home  dissatisfied.  On 
the  day  after  her  return  from  New  York,  whither  she 
went  to  perform  the  duty  of  bridesmaid,  she  had  a 
similar  experience,  twice  varied.  Senator  Burleigh 
made  a  short  speech  in  a  voice  that  was  truly  mag- 
nificent, and  following  up  Senator  North's  attack 


Senator  North  57 

on  the  bill  unpopular  on  the  Republican  side  of  the 
Chamber.  He  was  answered  by  "  Blunderbuss  "  Pep- 
per, the  new  Senator  who  had  turned  every  aristo- 
crat out  of  office  in  his  aristocratic  Southern  State 
and  filled  the  vacancies  with  men  of  his  own  hum- 
ble origin.  He  was  a  burly  untidy-looking  man,  and 
frequently  as  uncouth  in  speech,  a  demagogue  and 
excitable.  But  the  Senate,  now  that  three  years  in  that 
body  had  toned  him  down,  conceded  his  ability  and 
took  his  abuse  with  the  utmost  good-nature.  Betty 
recalled  his  biography  as  sketched  by  Senator  Burleigh, 
and  noted  that  almost  every  Senator  wheeled  about  with 
an  expression  of  lively  interest,  as  his  reiterated  "  Mr. 
President,  Mr.  President,"  secured  him  the  floor. 
They  were  not  disappointed,  nor  was  Betty.  In  a  few 
moments  he  was  roaring  like  a  mad  bull  and  hurling  in- 
vective upon  the  entire  Republican  party,  which  "  would 
deprive  the  South  of  legitimate  representation  if  it 
could."  He  was  witty  and  scored  many  points,  pro- 
voking more  than  one  laugh  from  both  sides  of  the 
Chamber;  and  when  he  finished  with  a  parting  yell 
of  imprecation,  his  audience  returned  to  their  corre- 
spondence and  conversation  with  an  indulgent  smile. 
Betty  wondered  what  he  had  been  like  before  the 
Senate  had  "  toned  him  down." 

That  night  she  addressed  the  cigars  to  Jack  Emory 
and  sent  them  off  at  once.  "  I  do  believe  I  came  very 
close  to  making  a  fool  of  myself,"  she  thought.  "  What 
on  earth  made  me  want  to  give  those  cigars  to  Senator 
North? — to  give  him  anything?  What  a  little  ninny 
he  would  have  thought  me  !  "  She  puzzled  long  over 
this  deflection  from  her  usual  imperious  course  with 
men,  but  concluding  that  women  having  so  many 


58  Senator  North 

silly  twists  in  their  brains  it  was  useless  to  try  to 
understand  them  all,  dismissed  the  matter  from  her 
mind. 


VIII 

"  How  many  politicians  are  coming  this  afternoon  ?  " 
asked  Mrs.  Madison,  at  the  Sunday  midday  dinner. 
Her  voice  indicated  that  all  protest  had  not  gone  out 
of  her. 

"  Senator  Burleigh  and  Mr.  Montgomery  —  and 
Lady  Mary.  Not  a  formidable  array." 

"  They  are  exactly  two  too  many.  I  have  written 
and  asked  Sally  Carter  to  come  over  and  chaperon  you 
in  case  I  do  not  feel  equal  to  the  ordeal  at  the  last 
moment.  I  am  surprised  that  she  takes  your  course 
so  quietly,  but  on  the  whole  am  relieved ;  you  need 
some  one  respectable  to  keep  you  in  countenance." 

"  This  house  reeks  with  respectability ;  no  one  would 
ever  notice  the  absence  of  a  chaperon.  Sally  is  not 
only  quiescent,  but  sympathetic.  She  knows  that  I 
have  got  to  the  end  of  teas  and  charities,  and  she 
believes  in  people  choosing  their  own  lives.  She 
says  she  would  join  a  travelling  circus  if  her  proclivities 
happened  to  point  that  way." 

Mrs.  Madison  shuddered.  "I  do  not  pretend  to 
understand  the  present  generation,  and  the  more  I 
hear  of  it  the  less  I  wish  to.  As  for  Sally  I  love  her, 
but  I  should  detest  her  if  I  did  n't,  for  she  is  the 
worst  form  of  snob :  she  is  so  rich  and  so  well  born 
that  she  thinks  she  can  dress  like  a  servant-girl  and 
affect  the  manners  of  a  barmaid." 


Senator  North  59 

"  Molly  !  So  you  were  haunting  '  pubs  '  when  I 
supposed  you  were  yawning  at  home?  I  hope  you 
did  not  tell  the  barmaids  your  real  name." 

"  Well,  I  suppose  I  should  not  criticise  people  that 
I  know  nothing  about,"  said  Mrs.  Madison,  coloring 
and  serious.  She  changed  the  subject  hastily.  "  Jack, 
I  hope  you  will  stay  this  afternoon.  It  would  be  the 
greatest  comfort  to  have  you  in  the  house." 

"  I  will  stay,  certainly,"  said  Emory.  He  had  taken 
his  Sunday  dinner  at  the  old  house  in  I  Street  for 
almost  a  quarter  of  a  century.  To-day  he  had  been 
unusually  silent,  and  had  contracted  his  brows  ner- 
vously every  time  Betty  looked  at  him.  She  under- 
stood perfectly,  and  amused  herself  by  turning  round 
upon  him  several  times  with  abrupt  significance. 
However,  she  spared  him  until  they  had  taken  Mrs. 
Madison  to  the  parlor  and  gone  to  the  library,  where 
he  might  smoke  his  after-dinner  cigar.  He  sat  down 
in  front  of  a  window,  and  the  sunlight  poured  over  him, 
glistening  his  handsome  head  and  illuminating  his  skin. 
Betty  supposed  that  some  women  might  fall  quite  des- 
perately in  love  with  him ;  and  in  addition  to  his 
beauty  he  was  a  noble  and  high-minded  gentleman, 
whose  narrowness  was  due  to  the  secluded  life  he  chose 
to  lead. 

"  Now !  "  she  exclaimed,  "  come  out  with  it ! 
You've  had  eleven  days,  and  one  can  learn  a  good 
deal  in  that  time." 

He  bit  sharply  at  the  end  of  his  cigar,  but  answered 
without  hesitation. 

"  It  is  almost  impossible  to  learn  anything  in  Wash- 
ington to  the  detriment  of  the  Senate.  There  seems 
to  be  a  sort  of  esprit  de  corps  in  the  entire  city.  They 


60  Senator  Norm 

look  politely  horrified  if  you  suggest  that  a  Senator 
of  the  United  States,  honoring  Washington  with  the 
society  of  his  wives  and  daughters,  is  anything  that  he 
should  not  be.  I  was  obliged  to  go  to  New  York  and 
Boston  to  get  the  information  I  wanted,  and  even  now 
it  is  far  from  complete.  I  don't  believe  it  is  possible 
to  arrive  at  anything  like  accurate  knowledge  on  the 
subject." 

"  Well,  what  did  you  get  ?  Washington  is  a  well- 
ordered  community  with  a  high  moral  tone  —  it  is 
said  to  have  fewer  scandals  than  any  city  in  the  coun- 
try —  and  there  is  no  sordid  commercial  atmosphere 
to  lower  it.  It  is  the  great  city  of  leisure  in  everything 
but  legislation  and  paying  calls ;  so  it  seems  to  me  that 
it  would  be  the  last  place  to  fondle  in  its  bosom  ninety 
distinguished  scoundrels.  But  go  on.  What  did  you 
learn  in  Boston  and  New  York?  " 

"  That  a  little  of  everything  is  represented  in  the 
Senate,  —  that  is  about  what  it  amounts  to.  There  are 
unquestionably  men  there  who  bought  their  seats  from 
legislatures,  and  there  are  men  who  are  agents  for  trusts, 
syndicates,  and  railroad  corporations,  as  well  as  three 
party  bosses  —  " 

"  Ninety  Senators  leave  a  large  margin  for  a  number 
of  loose  fish.  What  I  want  to  know  is,  how  do  the  big 
men  stand  —  North,  Maxwell,  Ward,  March  —  and 
fifteen  or  twenty  others,  all  the  men  who  are  the 
Chairmen  of  the  big  Committees?  The  New  England 
men  seem  to  have  charge  of  everything  of  importance 
in  the  House  and  of  a  good  deal  in  the  Senate." 

"  Some  of  the  Southern  and  Northwestern  and 
most  of  the  New  England  States  seem  to  have  honest 
enough  legislatures,"  said  Emory,  unwillingly.  "  But 


Senator  North  61 

that  leaves  plenty  of  others.  Only  a  few  of  the  West- 
ern States  are  above  suspicion,  and  as  for  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware,  they  would  not  waste  time 
defending  themselves ;  and  as  no  Senators  are  better 
than  the  people  that  elect  them  —  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  they  are  sometimes  —  look  at  the  Senator 
from  Delaware.  I  too  have  been  asking  questions  for 
eleven  days.  It  all  comes  to  this :  there  are  million- 
aireism  and  corrupting  influences  in  the  Senate,  but 
that  element  is  in  the  minority,  and  the  greater  number 
of  leading  or  able  Senators  are  above  suspicion.  And 
they  seem  to  have  things  pretty  much  all  their  own 
way.  They  could  not  if  the  majority  in  the  Senate 
were  scoundrels.  No  corrupt  body  was  ever  led  by 
its  irreproachable  exceptions  —  " 

"  In  another  ten  years  there  will  be  no  exceptions. 
All  that  are  making  a  desperate  stand  for  honesty 
to-day  will  be  overwhelmed  by  the  unprincipled 
element  —  " 

"  Or  have  forced  it  to  reform.  The  good  in  human 
nature  predominates ;  we  are  a  healthy  infant,  and  do 
not  know  .the  meaning  of  the  word  '  decadent ; '  and 
we  are  extraordinarily  clever.  Senator  Burleigh  says 
that  you  can  always  bank  on  the  American  people 
going  right  in  the  end.  They  may  not  bother  for  a 
long  time,  but  when  they  do  wake  up  they  make  things 
hum." 

"  Senator  Burleigh  evidently  has  all  the  easy-going 
optimism  of  this  country.  But,  Betty,  I  am  no  more 
reconciled  than  I  was  before  to  your  having  anything 
to  do  with  these  people.  Politics  have  a  bad  name, 
whatever  the  truth  of  the  matter.  I  think  myself  our 
sensational  press  is  largely  to  blame  —  " 


62  Senator  North 

"There  is  nothing  so  interesting  as  the  pursuit  of 
truth,"  said  Betty,  lightly.  "  Reconcile  yourself  to  the 
sight  of  me  in  pursuit  of  it  —  ' 

"  Ah,  here  you  are  !  '?  exclaimed  a  staccato  voice. 
Sally  Carter  entered  the  room,  kissed  Betty,  shook 
hands  heartily  with  Emory,  and  threw  herself  into  a 
chair.  Her  fortune  equalled  Betty's,  but  it  was  her 
pleasure  to  wear  frocks  so  old  and  so  dowdy  that  her 
friends  wondered  where  they  had  come  from  originally. 
She  had  been  a  handsome  girl,  and  her  blue  eyes  were 
still  full  of  fire,  her  fair  hair  abundant,  but  her  face 
was  sallow  and  lined  from  many  attacks  of  malarial 
fever.  Her  manner  was  breezy  and  full  of  energy,  and 
she  was  not  only  popular  but  a  very  important  person 
indeed.  She  lived  alone  with  her  father  in  the  old 
house  in  K  Street  and  entertained  rarely,  but  she  had 
strawberry  leaves  on  her  coronet,  and  it  was  currently 
reported  that  when  she  arrived  in  England,  clad  in  a 
rusty  black  serge  and  battered  turban,  —  which  she 
certainly  slept  in  at  intervals  during  the  day,  —  she 
was  met  in  state  by  the  entire  ducal  family  —  in- 
cluding a  prolific  connection  —  whose  ancestor  had 
founded  the  great  house  of  Carter  in  the  British  colo- 
nies of  North  America.  What  their  private  opinion 
was  of  this  representative  of  the  American  dukedom 
was  never  quite  clear  to  the  Washington  mind,  but  to 
know  Sally  Carter  in  her  own  city  meant  complete 
social  recognition,  and  not  to  know  her  an  indifferent 
success. 

"  Senator  North  tells  me  that  he  met  you  the  other  day 
and  would  like  to  meet  you  again,"  she  said  to  Betty, 
who  lifted  her  head  with  attention.  "  I  dropped  in  on 
my  way  here  for  a  little  call  on  Mrs.  North,  poor  dear  I 


Senator  North  63 

There  's  a  real  invalid  for  you  —  something  the  matter 
with  her  spine  —  is  liable  to  paralysis  any  minute.  It 
must  be  so  cheerful  to  sit  round  and  anticipate  that. 
Why  on  earth  do  women  let  their  nerves  run  away  with 
them,  in  the  first  place  ?  Nerves  in  this  country  are  a 
mixture  of  climate,  selfishness,  and  stupidity.  I  could 
be  as  nervous  as  a  witch,  but  I  won't.  I  walk  miles 
every  day  and  don't  think  about  myself.  Well !  I  told 
Mr.  North  all  about  the  bold  course  of  the  young  lady 
weary  of  frivolities,  and  he  seemed  much  interested, 
paid  you  some  compliment  or  other,  I  've  forgotten 
what.  He  said  he  would  look  out  for  you  in  the  Senate 
gallery,  and  go  up  and  speak  to  you  —  " 

Emory  rose  with  an  exclamation  of  disgust.  "  I 
hope  you  told  him  to  do  nothing  of  the  kind." 

"  On  the  contrary,  I  told  him  not  to  forget,  for  as 
Betty  would  sail  her  little  yacht  on  the  political  sea,  I 
wanted  her  to  be  recognized  by  the  men-of-war,  not 
by  the  trading-ships  and  pirates." 

Emory  threw  away  his  cigar.  "  I  think  I  will  go  in 
and  see  my  aunt,"  he  said.  "All  this  is  most  distaste- 
ful to  me." 

He  left  the  room,  followed  by  Betty's  mocking  laugh. 
But  Miss  Carter  said  with  a  sigh,  — 

"  He  can't  expect  us  all  to  live  up  to  his  ideals.  It  is 
better  not  to  have  any,  like  my  practical  self.  But  I  'm 
afraid  he  sits  out  there  in  his  damp  old  library  and 
dreams  of  a  world  in  which  all  the  men  are  Sir  Gala- 
hads  and  all  the  women  Madame  Rolands.  He  is  an 
ideal  himself,  if  he  only  knew  it ;  I  Ve  always  been 
half  in  love  with  him.  Well,  Betty,  how  do  you  like 
your  new  toy?  After  all,  what  is  even  a  Senate  but  a 
toy  for  a  pretty  woman?  That  is  really  your  attitude, 


64  Senator  North 

only  you  don't  know  it.  Life  is  serious  only  for  women 
with  babies  and  bills.  As  for  charities,  they  were 
specially  invented  to  give  old  maids  like  myself  an  oc- 
cupation in  life.  What — what  —  should  I  have  done 
without  charities  when  Society  palled?" 

"Why  did  you  never  marry,  Sally?"  asked  Betty, 
abruptly.  The  question  never  had  occurred  to  her 
before,  but  as  she  asked  it  her  eyes  involuntarily  moved 
to  the  empty  chair  before  the  window. 

"What  on  earth  should  I  do  with  a  husband?" 
asked  Miss  Carter,  lightly.  "  I  only  love  men  when 
they  are  in  bronze  in  the  public  parks.  Poor  dear  old 
General  Lathom  proposed  to  me  four  times,  and  the 
only  time  I  felt  like  accepting  him  was  when  I  saw  his 
statue  unveiled.  I  could  n't  put  a  man  on  a  pedestal 
to  save  my  life,  but  when  my  grateful  country  does  it 
I  'm  all  humble  adoration.  Could  you  idealize  a  live 
thing  in  striped  trousers  and  a  frock  coat?  " 

"  Woolen  is  hopeless,"  said  Betty,  with  an  attempt  at 
playfulness.  "  We  must  do  the  best  we  can  with  the 
inner  man." 

"  How  on  earth  do  you  know  what  a  man  is  like  on 
the  inside?  Idealize  is  the  right  word,  though. 
Women  make  a  god  out  of  what  they  cannot  under- 
stand in  a  man.  If  he  has  a  bad  temper,  they  think  of 
him  as  a  '  dominant  personality.'  If  he  is  unfaithful  to 
his  wife,  he  is  romantic  in  the  eyes  of  a  woman  who  has 
given  no  man  a  chance  to  be  unfaithful  to  her.  If  he 
comes  to  your  dinner  with  an  attack  of  dyspepsia,  you 
compare  him  sentimentally  with  the  brutes  that  eat. 
You  have  n't  married  yet,  I  notice,  and  you  are  on  the 
corner  of  twenty-seven." 

"American    men    don't     give    you    a    chance    to 


Senator  North  65 

idealize  them,"  said  Betty,  plaintively.  "  They  tell  you 
all  about  themselves  at  once.  And  although  English- 
men have  more  mystery  and  provoke  your  curiosity, 
they  don't  understand  women  and  don't  want  to ;  the 
women  can  do  the  adapting.  I  never  could  stand 
that ;  and  as  I  can't  endure  foreigners  I  'm  afraid  I 
shall  die  an  old  maid.  That 's  the  reason  I  Ve  gone 
into  politics  —  " 

The  butler  announced  that  Senator  Burleigh  was  in 
the  parlor. 

"  What  of  his  inner  man?  "  asked  Sally. 
"  I  never  have  given  it  two  thoughts.     But  his  outer 
is  all  that  could  be  desired." 

"  He  would  look  well  in  bronze.  I  understand  that 
his  State  thinks  a  lot  of  him :  as  you  know,  I  read  the 
Post  and  Star  through  every  day  to  papa.  I  have  to 
know  something  of  politics." 

They  found  Senator  Burleigh  talking  to  Mrs.  Madi- 
son, apparently  oblivious  of  her  frigid  attempt  at  toler- 
ance and  of  Emory's  sullen  silence.  Sally  Carter's 
eyes  flashed  with  amusement,  and  she  shook  the  Senator 
warmly  by  the  hand. 

"  Such -a  very  great  pleasure  !  "  she  announced  in  her 
staccato  tones.  "Now  the  only  time  I  really  allow 
myself  pride  is  when  I  meet  the  statesmen  of  my 
country.  I  am  sure  that  is  the  way  you  feel,  dear 
Cousin  Molly  —  is  it  not?  We  are  such  oysters,  the 
few  of  us  who  always  have  lived  here,  that  a  whiff  from 
the  political  world  puts  new  life  into  us." 

Emory  left  the  room.  Burleigh  looked  surprised 
but  gratified,  and  assured  her  that  it  was  the  greatest 
possible  pleasure  as  well  as  an  honor  to  meet  Miss 
Carter.  He  appeared  to  have  left  his  businesslike 

5 


66  Senator  North 

manner  on  Capitol  Hill,  and  he  was  even  less  abrupt 
than  on  the  night  of  the  dinner.  Only  his  exuberant 
vitality  seemed  out  of  place  in  that  dark  old  room,  and 
it  was  an  effort  for  him  to  keep  his  sonorous  voice  in 
check. 

"  Mrs.  Madison  says  she  takes  no  interest  in  politics," 
he  added,  "  and  fears  to  be  a  wet  blanket  on  the  con- 
versation. I  have  been  assuring  her  that  on  one  day 
of  the  week  politics  are  non-existent  so  far  as  I  am 
concerned." 

Mrs.  Madison,  who  had  been  staring  at  Sally  Carter, 
replied  with  an  evident  attempt  to  be  agreeable,  "  Of 
course  I  always  find  it  interesting  to  hear  people  talk 
about  what  they  understand  best." 

"  Politics  are  what  I  should  like  to  understand  least. 
Since  I  have  come  to  the  Senate  I  have  endeavored 
to  forget  all  I  ever  knew  about  them.  I  rely  upon  my 
friends  to  keep  me  in  office  while  I  am  making  a  des- 
perate attempt  to  become  a  fair-minded  legislator." 

He  spoke  lightly.  Betty  could  not  determine 
whether  he  was  posing  or  telling  the  simple  truth  to 
people  who  would  be  glad  to  take  him  at  his  word. 
There  was  a  twinkle  of  amusement  in  his  eye ;  but  he 
looked  too  impatient  for  even  the  milder  sort  of 
hypocrisy. 

Mrs.  Madison  thawed  visibly.  "  You  younger  men 
should  try  to  restore  the  old  ideals,"  she  said. 

"Ah,  madam,"  he  replied,  "if  you  only  knew  what 
the  censors  said  about  the  old  ideals  when  they  were 
alive  !  If  Time  will  be  as  kind  to  us,  we  can  swallow 
our  own  dose  with  a  reasonable  amount  of  philosophy. 
John  Quincy  Adams  arraigned  the  politics  of  his  day 
in  the  bitterest  phrases  he  could  create;  but  to-day 


Senator  North  67 

we  are  asked  to  remember  the  glorious  past  and  hide 
our  heads." 

The  Montgomerys  entered  the  room.  Randolph, 
who  was  as  tall  as  Senator  Burleigh  and  very  slender, 
looked  so  distinguished  that  Mrs.  Madison  immediately 
decided  to  remember  only  that  his  family  was  as 
old  as  her  own.  He  had  lost  none  of  the  repose  he 
had  found  during  his  three  years'  residence  in  Europe, 
but  the  effort  to  keep  it  in  the  House  had  made  his 
handsome  face  thin  and  touched  his  mouth  with 
cynicism.  His  hair  was  still  black,  and  there  were 
no  lines  about  his  cool  gray  eyes. 

"  Blessed  day  of  rest !  "  exclaimed  his  wife.  "  I 
got  up  just  one  hour  ago.  Do  you  know,  Miss 
Madison,  I  paid  twenty- six  calls  on  Thursday,  eighteen 
on  Friday  and  twelve  on  Saturday?  Never  marry  into 
political  life." 

Senator  Burleigh,  who  had  been  talking  to  Miss 
Carter,  turned  round  quickly.  "  Some  women  are  so 
manifestly  made  for  it,"  he  said,  "  that  it  would  be 
folly  for  them  to  attempt  to  escape  their  fate." 


IX 

A  MONTH  passed.  Betty  received  with  Lady  Mary  on 
Tuesdays,  and  under  that  popular  young  matron's  wing 
called  on  a  number  of  women  prominent  in  the  official 
life  of  the  dying  Administration,  whom  she  received  on 
Fridays.  They  were  very  polite,  and  returned  her  calls 
promptly;  but  they  did  not  always  remember  her 
name,  and  her  personality  and  position  impressed  but 


68  Senator  North 

a  few  of  these  women,  overwhelmed  with  social  duties, 
visiting  constituents,  and  people-with-letters.  Most 
of  them  paid  from  fifteen  to  twenty  calls  on  six  days 
out  of  seven,  and  had  filled  their  engagement  books 
for  the  season  during  its  first  fortnight.  Betty  was 
chagrined  at  first,  then  amused.  Moreover,  her  in- 
complete success  raised  the  political  world  somewhat 
in  Mrs.  Madison's  estimation ;  she  had  expected  that 
her  house  would  be  besieged  by  these  temporary 
beings,  eager  for  a  sniff  at  Old  Washington  air.  Betty 
realized  that  she  must  be  content  to  go  slowly  this 
winter,  and  begin  to  entertain  as  soon  as  the  next 
season  opened.  Lady  Mary  took  her  to  four  large 
receptions,  and  she  was  invited  to  two  or  three  dinners 
of  a  semi-official  character ;  for  several  women  not 
only  fancied  her,  but  appreciated  the  fact  that  the 
official  were  not  the  highest  social  honors  in  the  land, 
and  were  glad  to  further  her  plans. 

Senator  Burleigh  called  several  times.  One  day  he 
arrived  with  a  large  package  of  books:  Bryce's 
"American  Commonwealth,"  a  volume  containing  the 
Constitution  and  Washington's  Farewell  Address,  and 
several  of  the  "  American  Statesmen"  monographs. 

"Read  all  these,"  he  said  dictatorially.  ("He 
certainly  takes  me  very  seriously,"  thought  Betty. 
"  Doubtless  he  '11  stand  me  in  a  corner  with  my  face  to 
the  wall  if  I  don't  get  my  lessons  properly.")  "  I  want 
you  to  acquire  the  national  sense.  I  don't  believe  a 
woman  in  this  country  knows  the  meaning  of  the 
phrase.  Study  and  think  over  the  characters  of  the 
men  who  created  this  country :  Washington  and 
Hamilton,  particularly.  You  '11  know  what  I  mean 
when  you  've  read  these  little  volumes ;  and  then  I  '11 


Senator  North  69 

bring  you  some  thirty  volumes  containing  the  letters 
and  despatches  and  communications  to  Congress  of 
these  two  greatest  of  all  Americans.  I  don't  know 
which  I  admire  most.  Hamilton  was  the  most  crea- 
tive genius  of  his  century,  but  the  very  fact  that  he 
was  a  genius  of  the  highest  order  makes  him  hopeless 
as  a  standard.  But  all  men  in  public  life  who  desire 
to  attain  the  highest  and  most  unassailable  position 
analyze  the  character  of  Washington  and  ponder  over 
it  deeply.  There  never  was  a  man  so  free  from  taint, 
there  never  was  such  complete  mental  poise,  there  never 
was  such  cold,  rarified,  unerring  judgment.  The  man 
seems  to  us  —  who  live  in  a  turbulent  day  when  the  effort 
to  be  and  to  remain  high-minded  makes  the  brain  ache 
—  to  have  been  nothing  less  than  inspired.  And  his 
political  wisdom  is  as  sound  for  to-day  as  for  when  he 
uttered  it ;  although,  for  the  life  of  me,  I  cannot  help 
disregarding  his  admonition  to  keep  hands  out  of 
foreign  pie,  this  time.  I  want  the  country  to  go  to 
the  rescue  of  Cuba,  and  I  '11  turn  over  every  stone  I 
can  to  that  end." 

Betty  had  listened  to  him  with  much  interest. 
"  Would  Washington  have  gone  ?  "  she  asked.  "  Would 
he  advise  it  now,  supposing  he  could  ?  " 

"  No,  I  don't  believe  he  would.  Washington  had  a 
brain  of  ice,  and  his  ideal  of  American  prosperity  was 
frozen  within  it.  He  would  fear  some  possible  harm 
or  loss  to  this  country,  and  the  other  could  be  left 
to  the  care  of  an  all- merciful  Providence.  I  love 
my  country  with  as  sound  a  patriotism  as  a  man 
may,  and  I  revere  the  memory  of  Washington,  but  I 
have  not  a  brain  of  ice,  and  I  think  a  country,  like  a 
man,  should  think  of  others  besides  itself.  And  the 


7<D  Senator  North 

United  States  has  got  to  that  point  where  almost 
nothing  could  hurt  it.  A  few  months'  patriotic  en- 
thusiasm, for  that  matter,  would  do  it  no  end  of  good. 
If  you  care  to  listen,  I  '11  read  the  Farewell  Address  to 
you." 

He  read  it  in  his  sonorous  rolling  voice,  that  must 
have  done  as  much  to  make  him  a  popular  idol  in  his 
State  as  his  more  distinguished  gifts  for  public  life. 
Betty  decided  that  the  more  senatorial  he  was  the 
better  she  liked  him.  She  knew  that,  he  was  a  favor- 
ite with  men,  and  had  a  vague  idea  that  men,  when  in 
the  exclusive  society  of  their  own  sex,  always  told 
witty  anecdotes,  but  she  could  not  imagine  herself 
making  small  talk  with  Senator  Burleigh.  Her  day  for 
small  talk,  however,  she  fervently  hoped  was  over. 

She  had  seen  Senator  North  again  but  once.  Lady 
Mary  Montgomery  gave  a  great  evening  reception,  as 
magnificent  an  affair  of  the  sort  as  Betty  was  likely  to 
see  in  Washington.  It  was  given  in  honor  of  a  dis- 
tinguished Englishman,  who,  rumor  whispered,  had 
come  over  in  the  interests  of  the  General  Arbitration 
Treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
now  at  the  mercy  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Re- 
lations. There  was  another  impression,  equally  alive 
in  Washington,  that  Lady  Mary  aspired  to  be  the 
historic  link  between  the  two  countries.  Certain  it 
was  that  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  British  Ambassa- 
dor, and  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  dined  and 
called  constantly  at  her  house.  The  Distinguished 
Guest  had  called  on  her  every  day  since  his  arrival. 

Betty  knew  what  others  divined,  for  the  friends  were 
inseparable,  and  Mary  Montgomery  was  very  frank 
with  her  few  intimates. 


Senator  North  71 

"  Of  course  I  want  the  treaty  to  go  through,"  she 
had  said  to  Betty,  only  the  day  before  her  reception ; 
"and  I  am  quite  wild  to  know  what  the  Committee 
are  doing  with  it.  But  of  course  they  will  say  noth- 
ing. Senator  Ward  kisses  my  hand  and  talks  Shake- 
speare and  Socrates  to  me,  and  when  I  use  all  my 
eloquence  in  behalf  of  a  closer  relationship  between 
the  two  greatest  nations  on  earth  —  for  I  want  an 
alliance  to  follow  this  treaty  —  he  says :  '  Ma  belle 
dame  sans  merct,  the  American  language  shall  yet 
be  spoken  in  the  British  Isles ;  I  promise  you  that.' 
He  is  one  of  the  few  Americans  I  cannot  understand. 
He  has  eyes  so  heavy  that  he  never  looks  quite  awake, 
and  he  is  as  quick  as  an  Italian's  blade  in  retort.  He 
has  a  large  and  scholarly  intellect,  and  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  make  him  serious.  You  never  see  him  in 
his  chair  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  although  he  some- 
times drifts  across  the  room  with  a  cigar  in  the  hollow 
of  his  hand,  and  he  is  admittedly  one  of  its  leading 
spirits,  and  the  idol  of  a  Western  State  —  of  all  things  ! 
Senator  North  is  the  reverse  of  transparent,  but  some- 
times he  goes  to  the  point  in  a  manner  which  leaves 
nothing  to  "be  desired.  He  is  not  on  the  Committee 
of  Foreign  Relations,  so  I  asked  him  point  blank  the 
other  day  if  he  thought  the  treaty  would  go  through 
and  if  he  did  not  mean  to  vote  for  it.  He  is  usually 
as  polite  as  all  men  who  are  successful  in  politics  and 
like  women,  but  he  gave  a  short  and  brutal  laugh. 
'  Lady  Mary,'  he  said,  '  when  some  of  my  col- 
leagues were  cultivating  their  muscles  on  the  tail  of 
your  lion  in  the  winter  of  1895,!  told  them  what  I 
thought  of  them  in  language  which  only  senatorial 
courtesy  held  within  bounds.  If  the  Committee  on 


72  Senator  North 

Foreign  Relations  —  for  whose  members  I  have  the 
highest  respect :  they  are  picked  men  —  should  do 
anything  so  foolish  and  so  unpatriotic  as  to  report 
back  that  treaty  in  a  form  to  arouse  the  enthusi- 
asm of  the  British  press,  I  fear  I  should  disregard 
senatorial  courtesy.  But  the  United  States  Senate 
does  not  happen  to  be  composed  of  idiots,  and  the 
President  may  amuse  himself  writing  treaties,  but  he 
does  not  make  them.' 

"Then  I  asked  him  if  he  had  no  sentiment,  if  he 
did  not  think  the  spirit  of  the  thing  fine  :  the  union 
of  the  great  English-speaking  races ;  and  he  replied 
that  he  saw  no  necessity  for  anything  of  the  sort :  we 
did  very  well  on  our  separate  sides  of  the  water ;  and 
as  for  sentiment,  we  were  like  certain  people,  —  much 
better  friends  while  coquetting  than  when  married. 
He  added  that  the  divorce  would  be  so  extremely 
painful.  I  asked  him  what  was  to  prevent  another 
lover's  quarrel,  if  there  were  no  ring  and  no  blessing, 
and  he  replied :  '  Ah,  that  is  another  question.  To 
keep  out  of  useless  wars  with  the  old  country  and  to 
tie  our  hands  fast  to  her  quarrels  are  two  things,  and 
the  one  we  will  do  and  the  other  we  won't  do.' 

"That  is  all  he  would  say,  but  fortunately  there  is 
a  less  conservative  element  in  the  Senate  than  his, 
although  I  believe  they  all  become  saturated  with  that 
Constitution  in  time.  I  can  see  it  growing  in  Senator 
Burleigh." 

All  elements  had  come  to  her  reception  to-night. 
Ambassadors  and  Envoys  Extraordinary  were  there  in 
the  full  splendor  of  their  uniforms.  So  were  Gener- 
als and  Admirals ;  and  the  women  of  the  Eastern  Lega- 
tions had  come  in  their  native  costumes.  The  portly 


Senator  North  73 

ladies  of  the  Cabinet  were  as  resplendent  as  their  posi- 
tion demanded,  and  the  aristocracy  of  the  Senate  and 
the  women  of  fashion  were  equally  fine.  Other  women 
were  there,  wives  of  men  important  but  poor,  who 
walked  unabashed  in  high-neck  home-made  frocks ; 
and  their  pretty  daughters  were  as  simple  as  them- 
selves. One  wore  a  cheese-cloth  frock,  and  another  a 
blue  merino.  The  dames  of  the  Plutocracy  were  there, 
blazing  with  converted  capital,  —  Westerners  for  the 
most  part,  with  hogsheads  of  money,  who  had  come  to 
the  City  of  Open  Doors  to  spend  it.  It  was  seldom 
they  were  in  the  same  room  with  the  Old  Washingtoni- 
ans,  and  when  they  were  they  sighed  ;  then  reminded 
themselves  of  recent  dinners  to  people  whose  names 
were  half  the  stock  in  trade  of  the  daily  press.  Sally 
Carter,  who  regarded  them  through  her  lorgnette  with 
much  the  same  impersonal  interest  as  she  would  accord 
to  actors  on  the  boards,  wore  a  gown  of  azure  satin 
trimmed  with  lace  whose  like  was  not  to  be  found  in 
the  markets  of  the  world.  Her  hair  was  elaborately 
dressed,  and  her  thin  neck  sufficiently  covered  by  a 
curious  old  collar  of  pearls  set  with  tiny  miniatures. 
Careless  as  she  was  by  day,  it  often  suited  her  to  be 
very  smart  indeed  by  night.  She  looked  brilliant ;  and 
Jack  Emory,  who  had  been  commanded  by  Betty  to 
accept  Lady  Mary's  invitation,  did  not  leave  her  side. 
And  she  snubbed  her  more  worldly-minded  followers 
and  devoted  herself  to  his  amusement. 

All  the  men  wore  evening  clothes.  It  seemed  to 
be  an  unwritten  law  that  the  politician  should  have 
his  dress-suit  did  his  wife  wear  serge  for  ever.  Con- 
sequently they  presented  a  more  uniformly  fine  ap- 
pearance than  their  women,  and  most  of  them  held 


74  Senator  North 

themselves  with  a  certain  look  of  power.  Their  faces 
were  almost  invariably  keen  and  strong.  Few  of  the 
younger  members  of  the  House  were  here  to-night, 
only  those  who  had  been  in  it  so  many  years  that  they 
were  high  in  political  importance.  Among  them  the 
big  round  form  and  smooth  round  head  of  their  pres- 
ent and  perhaps  most  famous  Speaker  were  conspicu- 
ous :  the  United  States  was  moving  swiftly  to  the 
parting  of  the  ways,  and  there  are  times  when  a 
Speaker  is  a  greater  man  than  a  President. 

What  few  authors  Washington  boasts  were  there,  as 
well  as  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  scholars,  archi- 
tects, scientists,  and  journalists.  And  they  moved 
amid  great  splendor.  Lady  Mary  had  thrown  open 
her  ball-room,  and  the  walls  looked  like  a  lattice-work 
of  American  Beauty  roses  and  thorns.  Great  bunches 
of  the  same  expensive  ornament  swung  from  the  ceil- 
ing, and  the  piano  was  covered  with  a  quilt  of  them 
deftly  woven  together.  The  pale  green  drawing-room 
was  as  lavishly  decorated  with  pink  and  white  orchids 
and  lilies  of  the  valley.  Lady  Mary  felt  that  she  could 
vie  in  extravagance  with  the  most  ambitious  in  her  hus- 
band's ambitious  land. 

Betty  was  entertaining  four  Senators,  the  Distin- 
guished Guest,  and  the  Speaker  of  the  House  when 
she  caught  a  glimpse  of  Senator  North.  She  immedi- 
ately became  a  trifle  absent,  and  permitted  Senator 
Shattuc,  who  liked  to  tell  anecdotes  of  famous  politi- 
cians, to  take  charge  of  the  conversation.  While  he 
was  thinking  her  the  one  woman  in  Washington  charm- 
ing enough  to  establish  a  salon,  she  was  congratulat- 
ing herself  that  she  should  meet  Senator  North  again 
when  she  looked  her  best.  She  wore  a  wonderful  new 


Senator  North  75 

gown  of  mignonette  green  and  ivory  white,  and  many 
pearls  in  her  warm  hair  and  on  her  beautiful  neck. 
She  looked  both  regal  and  girlish,  an  effect  she  well 
knew  how  to  produce.  Her  head  was  thrown  back 
and  her  eyes  were  sparkling  with  triumph  as  they  met 
Senator  North's.  He  moved  toward  her  at  once. 

"  I  should  be  stupid  to  inquire  after  your  health," 
he  said  as  he  shook  her  hand.  "  You  are  positively 
radiant.  I  shall  ask  instead  if  you  still  find  time  to 
come  up  and  see  us  occasionally,  and  if  we  improve 
on  acquaintance?  " 

"  I  go  very  often  indeed,  but  I  have  seen  you  only 
three  times." 

"  I  have  been  North  for  a  week,  and  in  my  Com- 
mittee Room  a  good  deal  since  my  return." 

Betty  was  determined  not  to  let  slip  this  opportunity. 
She  resented  the  platitudes  that  are  kept  in  stock  by 
even  the  greatest  minds,  and  wished  that  he  would 
hold  out  a  peremptory  arm  and  lead  her  to  some  quiet 
corner  and  talk  to  her  for  an  hour.  But  he  evidently 
had  a  just  man's  appreciation  of  the  rights  of  others, 
for  he  betrayed  no  intention  to  do  anything  of  the 
kind.  His  eyes  dwelt  on  her  with  frank  admiration, 
but  Washington  is  the  national  headquarters  of  pretty 
women,  and  he  doubtless  contented  himself  with  a 
passing  glimpse  of  many.  And  this  time  Betty  felt 
the  full  force  of  the  man's  magnetism.  She  would 
have  liked  to  put  up  a  detaining  hand  and  hold  him 
there  for  the  rest  of  the  evening.  Even  were  there 
no  chance  for  conversation,  she  would  have  liked 
to  be  close  beside  him.  She  forgot  that  he  was 
an  ideal  on  a  pedestal  and  shot  him  a  challenging 
glance. 


76 


Senator  North 


"I  have  hoped  that  you  would  come  up  to  the 
gallery  and  call  on  me,"  she  said  pointedly. 

He  moved  a  step  closer,  then  drew  back.  His  face 
did  not  change. 

"  I  certainly  shall  when  I  am  so  fortunate  as  to  see 
you  up  there,"  he  said.  "But  the  fourth  of  March 
is  not  far  off,  and  the  pressure  accumulates.  I  am 
obliged  to  be  in  my  Committee  Room,  as  well  as  in 
other  Committee  Rooms,  for  the  better  part  of  every 
day.  But  if  I  can  do  anything  for  you,  if  there  is 
any  one  you  would  care  to  meet,  do  not  fail  to  let  me 
know.  Send  word  to  my  room,  and  if  possible  I  will 
go  to  you." 

Betty  looked  at  him  helplessly.  She  wanted  to  ask 
him  to  call  at  her  house  on  Sunday,  but  felt  a  sudden 
diffidence.  After  all,  why  should  he  care  to  call  on 
her?  He  had  more  important  things  to  think  of; 
and  doubtless  he  spent  his  few  leisure  hours  with  some 
woman  far  more  brilliant  than  herself.  Her  head 
came  down  a  trifle  and  she  turned  it  away.  He  stood 
there  a  moment  longer,  then  said,  — 

"  Good-night,"  and,  after  a  few  seconds'  hesitation, 
and  with  unmistakable  emphasis :  "  Remember  that 
it  would  give  me  the  greatest  possible  pleasure  to  do 
anything  for  you  I  could."  Immediately  after,  he  left 
the  room. 

When  she  was  alone  an  hour  later,  she  anathematized 
herself  for  a  fool.  Diffidence  had  no  permanent  part 
in  her  mental  constitution.  She  was  sure  that  if  she 
could  talk  with  him  for  thirty  consecutive  minutes 
she  could  interest  him  and  attach  him  to  her  train. 
Her  pride,  she  felt,  was  now  involved.  She  should 
estimate  herself  a  failure  unless  she  compelled  Senator 


Senator  North  77 

North  to  forget  the  more  experienced  women  of  the 
political  world  and  spend  his  leisure  hours  with  her. 
She  had  been  a  brilliant  success  in  other  spheres,  she 
would  not  fail  in  this. 

But  two  more  weeks  passed  and  she  did  not  see 
him.  He  came  neither  to  the  floor  of  the  Senate 
within  her  experience  of  it,  nor  to  the  gallery.  Nor 
did  he  appear  to  care  for  Society.  Few  of  the  Sen- 
ators did,  for  that  matter.  They  did  not  mind  dining 
out,  as  they  had  to  dine  somewhere,  and  an  agreeable 
and  possibly  handsome  partner  would  give  zest  to  any 
meal;  but  they  were  dragged  to  receptions  and  es- 
caped as  soon  as  they  could. 


BETTY  rose  suddenly  from  the  breakfast-table  and 
went  into  the  library,  carrying  a  half-read  letter.  She 
had  felt  her  face  flush  and  her  hand  tremble,  and 
escaped  from  the  servants  into  a  room  where  she  could 
think  alone  for  hours,  if  she  wished. 
The  letter  ran  as  follows  :  — 

THE  PARSONAGE,  ST.  ANDREW,  VIRGINIA. 
To  Miss  ELIZABETH  MADISON: 

DEAR  MADAM,  —  I  have  a  communication  of  a  some- 
what trying  nature  to  make,  and  believe  me,  I  would  not 
make  it  were  not  my  end  very  near.  Your  father,  dear 
madam,  the  late  Harold  Carter  Madison,  left  an  illegiti- 
mate daughter  by  a  woman  whom  he  loved  for  many  years, 
an  octaroon  named  Cassandra  Lee.  Before  his  death  he 
gave  poor  Cassie  a  certain  sum  of  money,  and  made  her 


78  Senator  North 

promise  to  leave  Washington  and  never  return.  She  came 
here  and  devoted  the  few  remaining  years  of  her  life  to 
the  care  of  her  child.  I  and  my  wife  were  the  only  per- 
sons who  knew  her  story,  and  when  she  was  dying  we 
willingly  promised  to  take  the  little  one.  For  the  last  ten 
years  Harriet  has  lived  here  in  the  parsonage  and  has  been 
the  only  child  I  have  ever  known,  —  a  dearly  beloved 
child.  She  has  been  carefully  educated  and  is  a  lady  in 
every  sense  of  the  word.  I  had  until  the  last  two  years  a 
little  school,  and  she  was  my  chief  assistant.  But  the 
public  school  proved  more  attractive  —  and  doubtless  is 
more  thorough  —  and  this  passed  from  me.  Last  year  my 
wife  died.  Now  I  am  going,  and  very  rapidly.  I  have 
only  just  learned  the  nature  of  my  illness,  and  I  may  be 
dead  before  you  receive  this  letter.  I  write  to  beg  you  to 
receive  your  sister.  There  is  no  argument  I  can  use,  dear 
lady,  which  your  own  conscience  will  not  dictate.  You 
will  not  be  ashamed  of  her.  She  shows  not  a  trace  of  the 
taint  in  her  blood.  The  money  your  father  gave  Cassie 
has  gone  long  since,  but  Harriet  asks  no  alms  of  you,  only 
that  you  will  help  her  to  go  somewhere  far  from  those  who 
know  that  she  is  not  as  white  as  she  looks,  and  to  give  her 
a  chance  to  earn  her  living.  She  is  well  fitted  to  be  a  gov- 
erness or  companion,  and  no  doubt  you  could  easily  place 
her.  But  she  is  lonely  and  frightened  and  miserable.  Be 
merciful  and  receive  her  into  your  home  for  a  time. 

11  I  dare  not  write  this  to  your  mother.  She  has  no 
cause  to  feel  warmly  to  Harriet.  But  you  are  young,  and 
wealthy  in  your  own  right.  Her  future  rests  with  you. 
Here  in  this  village  she  can  do  absolutely  nothing,  and 
after  I  am  buried  she  will  not  have  enough  to  keep  her 
for  a  month.  Answer  to  her  —  she  bears  my  name. 
I  am,  dear  lady, 

Your  humble  and  obd't  servant, 

ABRAHAM  WALKER. 

P.  S.     Harriet  is  twenty-three.     She  has  letters  in  her 
possession  which  prove  her  parentage. 


Senator  North  79 

Betty's  first  impulse  was  to  take  the  next  train  for 
St.  Andrew.  Her  heart  went  out  to  the  lonely  girl, 
deprived  of  hei  only  protector,  wretched  under  the 
triple  load  of  poverty,  friendlessness,  and  the  curse  of 
race.  She  remembered  vividly  those  two  men  in  the 
church  whose  bearing  expressed  more  forcibly  than 
any  words  the  canker  that  had  blighted  their  man- 
hood. And  this  girl  bore  no  visible  mark  of  the  wrong 
that  had  been  done  her,  and  only  needed  the  oppor- 
tunity to  be  happy  and  respected.  Could  duty  be 
more  plain?  And  was  she  a  chosen  instrument  to 
right  one  at  least  of  the  great  wrongs  perpetrated 
by  the  brilliant,  warm-hearted,  reckless  men  of  her 
race? 

But  in  a  moment  she  shuddered  and  dropped  the 
letter,  a  wave  of  horror  and  disgust  rising  within  her. 
This  girl  was  her  half-sister,  and  was,  light  or  dark,  a 
negress.  Betty  had  seen  too  much  of  the  world  in 
her  twenty- seven  years  to  weep  at  the  discovery  of  her 
father's  weakness,  or  to  shrink  from  a  woman  so  un- 
happy as  to  be  born  out  of  wedlock ;  but  she  was  South- 
ern to  her  finger-tips :  the  blacks  were  a  despised,  an 
unspeakably  inferior  race,  and  they  had  been  slaves 
for  hundreds  of  years  to  the  white  man.  To  be  sure, 
she  loved  the  old  family  servants,  and  rarely  said  a 
harsh  word  to  them,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  indifference 
to  her  that  they  had  been  freed,  as  she  had  plenty  of 
money  to  pay  their  wages.  But  that  the  negro  should 
vote  had  always  seemed  to  her  incredible  and  mon- 
strous, and  she  laughed  to  herself  when  she  met  on 
the  streets  the  smartly  dressed  colored  folk  out  for 
a  walk.  They  seemed  farcically  unreal,  travesties  on 
the  people  to  whom  a  discriminating  Almighty  had 


8o  Senator  North 

given  the  world.  To  her  the  entire  race  were  first 
slaves,  then  servants,  entitled  to  all  kindness  so  long 
as  they  kept  their  place,  but  to  be  stepped  on  the 
moment  they  presumed.  She  recoiled  in  growing  dis- 
gust from  this  girl  with  the  hidden  drop  of  black  in  her 
body. 

But  her  reasoning  faculty  was  accustomed  to  work 
independently  of  her  brain's  inherited  impressions. 
She  stamped  her  foot  and  anathematized  herself  for  a 
narrow-minded  creature  whose  will  was  weaker  than 
her  prejudices.  The  girl  was  blameless,  helpless.  She 
might  have  a  mind  as  good  as  her  own,  be  as  well 
fitted  to  enjoy  the  higher  pleasures  of  life.  And  she 
might  have  a  beauty  and  a  temperament  which  would 
be  her  ruin  did  her  natural  protectors  tell  her  that  she 
was  a  pariah,  an  outcast,  that  they  could  have  none  of 
her.  Betty  conjured  her  up,  a  charming  and  pathetic 
vision ;  but  in  vain.  The  repulsion  was  physical, 
inherited  from  generations  of  proud  and  intolerant 
women,  and  she  could  not  control  it. 

She  longed  desperately  for  a  confidant  and  adviser. 
Her  mother  she  could  not  speak  to  until  she  had  made 
up  her  mind.  Emory  and  Sally  Carter  would  tell  her 
to  give  the  creature  an  allowance  and  think  no  more 
about  her;  and  the  matter  went  deeper  than  that. 
The  girl  had  heart  and  an  educated  mind;  her 
demands  were  subtle  and  complex.  Senator  Burleigh  ? 
He  would  laugh  impatiently  at  her  prejudices,  and  tell 
her  that  she  ought  to  go  out  and  live  in  the  free  fresh 
air  of  the  West.  They  probably  would  quarrel  irreme- 
diably. Mary  Montgomery  would  only  stare.  Betty 
could  hear  her  exclaim  :  "  But  why  ?  What  ?  And 
you  say  she  is  quite  white?  I  do  not  think  that 


Senator  North  81 

negroes  are  as  nice  as  white  people,  of  course  j  but 
1  cannot  understand  your  really  tragic  aversion." 

There  was  only  one  person  to  whom  it  would  be 
a  luxury  to  talk,  Senator  North.  She  knew  that  he 
would  not  only  understand  but  sympathize  with  her, 
and  she  was  sure  he  would  give  her  wise  counsel. 
She  regretted  bitterly  that  she  had  not  been  able  to 
make  a  friend  of  him,  as  she  had  of  several  of  his 
colleagues.  She  would  have  sent  for  him  without 
hesitation. 

She  glanced  at  the  clock ;  it  pointed  to  ten  minutes 
past  ten.  He  was  doubtless  at  that  moment  in  his 
Committee  Room  looking  over  his  correspondence. 
She  knew  that  Senators  received  letters  at  the  rate  of 
a  hundred  a  day,  and  were  early  risers  in  conse- 
quence. If  only  she  dared  to  go  to  him,  if  only  he 
were  not  so  desperately  busy.  But  he  had  intimated 
that  he  had  leisure  moments,  had  taken  the  trouble 
to  say  that  it  would  give  him  pleasure  to  serve  her. 
Why  should  he  not?  What  if  he  were  a  Senator? 
Was  she  not  a  Woman?  Why  should  she  of  all 
women  hesitate  to  demand  a  half-hour's  time  of  any 
man  ?  She  needed  advice,  must  have  it :  a  decision 
should  be  reached  in  the  next  twenty-four  hours. 
Not  for  a  second  did  she  admit  that  she  was  building 
up  an  excuse  for  the  long-desired  interview  with  Sena- 
tor North.  She  was  a  woman  confronted  with  a 
solemn  problem. 

Her  coupe"  was  at  the  door ;  she  had  planned  a 
morning's  shopping.  She  ran  upstairs  and  dressed 
herself  for  the  street,  wondering  what  order  she  would 
give  the  footman.  She  changed  her  mind  hurriedly 
twenty  times,  but  was  careful  to  select  the  most 

6 


82  Senator  North 

becoming  street-frock  she  possessed,  a  gentian  blue 
cloth  trimmed  with  sable.  There  were  three  hats  to 
match  it,  and  she  tried  on  each,  to  the  surprise  of  her 
maid,  who  usually  found  her  easy  to  please.  She 
finally  decided  upon  a  small  toque  which  was  made 
to  set  well  back  from  her  face  into  the  heavy  waves  of 
her  hair.  She  was  too  wise  to  wear  a  veil,  for  hei 
complexion  was  flawless,  her  forehead  low  and  full, 
and  her  hair  arranged  loosely  about  it ;  she  wore  no 
fringe. 

As  the  footman  closed  the  door  of  the  coupe*  and 
she  said  curtly,  "The  Capitol,"  she  knew  that  her 
mind  had  made  itself  up  in  the  moment  that  it  had 
conceived  the  possibility  of  a  call  upon  Senator  North. 

That  point  settled,  she  was  calm  until  she  reached 
the  familiar  entrance  to  the  Senate  wing,  and  rehearsed 
the  coming  interview. 

But  her  cheeks  were  hot  and  her  knees  were  trem 
bling  as  she  left  the  elevator  and  hurried  down  the  cor- 
ridor to  the  Committee  Room  which  Burleigh,  when 
showing  her  over  the  building  one  morning,  had  pointed 
out  as  Senator  North's.  She  never  had  felt  so  nervous. 
She  wondered  if  women  felt  this  sudden  terror  of  the 
outraged  proprieties  when  hastening  to  a  tryst  of  which 
the  world  must  know  nothing.  And  she  was  over- 
whelmed with  the  vivid  consciousness  that  she  was 
actually  about  to  demand  the  time  and  attention  of 
one  of  the  busiest  and  most  eminent  men  in  the 
country.  If  it  had  not  been  for  a  stubborn  and 
long-tried  will,  she  would  have  turned  and  run. 

A  mulatto  was  sitting  before  the  door.  When  she 
asked,  with  a  successful  attempt  at  composure,  for 
Senator  North,  he  demanded  her  card.  She  hap- 


Senator  North  83 

pened  to  have  one  in  her  purse,  and  he  went  into  the 
room  and  closed  the  door,  leaving  her  to  be  stared  at 
by  the  strolling  sight-seers. 

The  mulatto  reopened  the  door  and  invited  her  to 
enter  a  large  room  with  a  long  table,  a  bookcase,  and  a 
number  of  leather  chairs.  Before  he  had  led  her  far, 
Senator  North  appeared  within  the  doorway  of  an 
inner  room. 

"I  am  glad  to  see  you,"  he  said.  "I  know  that 
you  are  in  trouble  or  you  would  not  have  done  me  this 
honor.  It  is  an  honor,  and  as  I  told  you  before  I  shall 
feel  it  a  privilege  to  serve  you  in  any  way.  Sit  here, 
by  the  fire." 

Betty  felt  so  grateful  for  his  effort  to  put  her  at  her  ease, 
so  delighted  that  he  was  all  her  imagination  had  pictured, 
and  had  not  snubbed  her  in  what  she  conceived  to  be 
the  superior  senatorial  manner,  that  she  flung  herself 
into  the  easy-chair  and  burst  into  tears. 

Senator  North  knew  women  as  well  as  a  man  can. 
He  let  the  storm  pass,  poked  the  already  glowing  fire, 
and  lowered  two  of  the  window-shades. 

"  I  feel  so  stupid,"  said  Betty,  calming  herself 
abruptly.  "I  have  no  right  to  take  up  your  time, 
and  I  shall  say  what  I  have  to  say  and  go." 

"  I  have  practically  nothing  to  do  for  the  next  hour. 
Please  consider  it  yours." 

Betty  stole  a  glance  at  him.  He  was  leaning  back 
in  his  chair  regarding  her  intently.  It  was  impossible 
to  .say  whether  his  eyes  had  softened  or  not,  but  he 
looked  kind  and  interested. 

"  I  never  have  told  you  that  your  father  was  a  great 
friend  of  mine,"  he  said.  "  You  really  have  a  claim 
on  me." 


84  Senator  North 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  Congressional  Directory 
gave  him  sixty  years,  he  looked  anything  but  fatherly. 
Although  there  never  was  the  slightest  affectation  of 
youth  in  his  dress  or  manner,  he  suggested  threescore 
years  as  little.  So  strong  was  his  individuality  that 
Betty  could  not  imagine  him  having  been  at  any  time 
other  than  he  was  now.  He  was  Senator  North,  that 
was  the  rounded  fact ;  years  had  nothing  to  do  with 
him. 

"  Well,  I  'm  glad  you  knew  papa ;  it  will  help  you  to 
understand.  I —  But  perhaps  you  had  better  read 
this." 

She  took  the  clergyman's  letter  from  her  muff,  and 
Senator  North  put  on  a  pair  of  steel-rimmed  eyeglasses 
and  read  it.  When  he  had  finished  he  put  the  eye- 
glasses in  his  pocket,  folded  the  letter,  and  handed  it  to 
her.  He  had  read  the  contents  with  equal  delibera- 
tion. It  seemed  impossible  that  he  would  act  other- 
wise in  any  circumstance. 

"Well?"  he  said,  looking  keenly  at  her.  "What 
are  you  going  to  do  about  it?  " 

"  I  am  ashamed  to  tell  you  how  I  have  felt.  But  we 
Southerners  feel  so  strongly  on  —  on  —  that  subject 
—  it  is  difficult  to  explain  !  " 

"We  Northerners  know  exactly  how  you  feel,"  he 
said  dryly.  "  We  should  be  singularly  obtuse  if  we  did 
not.  However,  do  not  for  a  moment  imagine  that  I  am 
unsympathetic.  We  all  have  our  prejudices,  and  the 
strongest  one  is  a  part  of  us.  And  for  the  matter  of 
that,  the  average  American  is  no  more  anxious  to  marry 
a  woman  with  negro  blood  in  her  than  the  Southerner 
is,  and  looks  down  upon  the  Black  from  almost  as  lofty 
a  height.  Only  our  prejudice  is  passive,  for  he  is  not 


Senator  North  85 

the  constant  source  of  annoyance  and  anxiety  with  us 
that  he  is  with  you." 

"  Then  you  understand  how  repulsive  it  is  to  me  to 
have  a  sister  who  is  white  by  accident  only,  and  how 
torn  I  am  between  pity  for  her  and  a  physical  an- 
tipathy that  I  cannot  overcome?" 

"  I  understand  perfectly." 

"  That  is  why  I  have  come  to  you  —  to  ask  you  what 
I  must  do.  This  is  the  first  time  I  have  been  con 
fronted  by  a  real  problem ;  my  life  has  been  so  smooth 
and  my  trials  so  petty.  It  is  too  great  a  problem  for 
me  to  solve  by  myself,  and  I  could  not  think  of  any- 
body's advice  but  yours  that  —  that  I  would  take," 
she  finished,  with  her  first  flash  of  humor. 

"  I  fully  expect  you  to  take  the  advice  I  am  going 
to  give  you.  Your  duty  is  plain;  you  must  do  all 
you  can  for  this  girl.  But  by  no  means  receive  her 
into  your  house  until  you  have  made  her  acquaintance. 
Take  the  ten  o'clock  B.  &  O.  to-morrow  morning  and 
go  to  St.  Andrew ;  it  is  about  four  hours'  journey  and 
on  the  line  of  the  railroad.  Spend  several  hours  with 
the  girl,  and,  if  she  is  worth  the  trouble,  bring  her  back 
with  you  and  do  all  you  can  for  her:  it  would  be 
cruel  and  heartless  to  refuse  her  consolation  if  she  is 
all  this  old  man  describes  —  and  you  are  not  cruel  and 
heartless.  And  if  this  drop  of  black  blood  is  abhor- 
rent to  you,  think  what  it  must  be  to  her.  It  is  enough 
to  torment  a  high-strung  woman  into  insanity  or  sui- 
cide. On  the  other  hand,  if  she  is  common,  or  looks 
as  if  she  had  a  violent  temper,  or  is  conceited  and 
self-sufficient  like  so  many  of  that  hybrid  race,  settle 
an  income  on  her  and  send  her  to  Europe  :  in  placing 
her  above  temptation  you  will  have  done  your  duty. 


86  Senator  North 

But  that  is  the  whole  point  —  to  be  sure  that  you 
do  the  right  thing." 

"  I  almost  hope  she  will  be  impossible,  so  that 
I  can  wipe  her  off  the  slate  at  once.  Otherwise  it  will 
be  a  terrible  problem." 

"  It  is  no  problem  at  all.  There  is  no  problem  in 
plain  duty.  Problems  exist  principally  in  works  of 
fiction  and  in  the  minds  of  unoccupied  women.  If 
you  meet  each  development  of  every  question  in  the 
most  natural  and  reasonable  manner,  —  presupposing 
that  you  possess  that  highest  attribute  of  civilization, 
common-sense,  —  no  question  will  ever  resolve  itself 
into  a  problem.  And  difficulties  usually  disappear  as 
the  range  of  vision  contracts.  If  your  house  takes 
fire,  you  save  what  you  can,  not  what  you  have  elabo- 
rately planned  to  save  in  case  of  fire.  Train  your 
common-sense  and  let  the  windy  analysis  pertaining  to 
problems  alone." 

"But  how  can  I  ever  get  over  the  horror  of  the 
thing,  Mr.  North?" 

"  You  will  forget  all  about  it  when  she  has  been 
your  daily  companion  for  a  few  weeks.  If  she  lacked 
a  nose,  you  would  as  soon  cease  to  remember  it.  If  this 
girl  is  worth  liking,  you  will  like  her,  and  soon  cease 
to  feel  tragic.  Leave  that  to  her  !  " 

"  I  know  that  you  are  right,  and  of  course  I  shall 
take  your  advice.  I  did  not  come  here  to  trouble 
you  for  nothing.  But  if  I  liked  her  at  first  and  not 
afterward  —  " 

"  Pack  her  off  to  Europe.  Europe  will  console  an 
American  woman  for  every  ill  in  life.  If  you  take  the 
right  attitude  in  the  beginning,  it  all  rests  with  her 
after  that.  You  will  have  but  one  duty  further.  If 


Senator  North  87 

she  wishes  to  marry,  you  must  tell  the  man  the  truth, 
if  she  will  not.  Don't  hesitate  on  that  point  a 
moment.  Her  children  are  liable  to  be  coal-black. 
That  African  blood  seems  to  have  a  curse  on  it,  and 
the  curse  is  usually  visited  on  the  unoffending." 

"  I  will,  I  will,"  said  Betty.     She  rose,  and  he  rose 
also  and  took  her  hand  in  both  of  his.     She  felt  an  al 
most  irresistible  desire  to  put  her  head  on  his  shoulder, 
for  she  was  tired  and  depressed. 

"  Your  attitude  in  the  matter  is  the  important  thing 
to  me,"  he  said.  "That  is  why  I  have  spoken  so 
emphatically.  You  are  a  child  yet,  in  spite  of  your 
twenty-seven  years  and  your  admirable  intelligence. 
This  is  practically  your  first  trial,  the  first  time  you 
have  been  called  upon  to  make  a  decision  which, 
either  way,  is  bound  to  have  a  strong  effect  on  your 
character,  and  to  affect  still  greater  decisions  you 
may  be  called  upon  to  make  in  the  future.  You  have 
only  one  defect ;  you  are  not  quite  serious  enough  — 
yet." 

"  I  feel  very  serious  just  now,"  said  Betty,  with  a 
sigh ;  and  in  truth  she  did,  and  her  new-found  sister 
was  not  the  only  thing  that  perplexed  her. 

"  One  of  these  days  you  will  be  a  singularly  perfect 
woman,"  he  added,  and  then  he  dropped  her  hand  and 
walked  to  the  door.  As  he  was  about  to  open  it,  she 
touched  his  arm  timidly. 

"Will  you  come  and  see  me  on  Sunday?"  she 
asked.  "  I  shall  have  been  through  a  good  deal 
between  now  and  then,  and  I  shall  want  —  I  shall 
want  to  talk  to  you." 

"I  will  come,"  he  said. 

"  Not   before   half-past   four.     My  mother  will   be 


88  Senator  North 

asleep  then,  and  my  cousin,  Jack  Emory,  have  gone 
home  —  there  will  be  so  many  things  I  shall  want  to 
talk  to  you  about." 

"  I  shall  be  there  at  half-past  four,"  he  said.    "  Good- 
bye.    Good-bye." 


XI 

BETTY  went  home  to  her  room  and  cried  steadily  for 
an  hour.  She  would  not  analyze  the  complex  source 
of  her  emotions,  but  addressed  a  bitter  reproach  to  her 
father's  shade;  and  she  reassured  herself  by  frankly 
admitting  that  it  would  give  her  pleasure  to  win  the 
approval  of  Senator  North. 

She  bathed  her  eyes  and  went  to  her  mother's  room. 
The  sooner  that  ordeal  was  over,  she  reflected,  the 
better.  Mrs.  Madison  was  reading  an  amusing  novel 
and  looked  up  with  a  smile,  then  pushed  the  book 
aside. 

"Have  you  been  crying,  darling?"  she  asked. 
"What  can  be  the  matter?" 

Betty  told  her  story  without  preamble.  Her  mother's 
nerves  could  stand  a  shock,  but  not  three  minutes  of 
uncertainty.  Mrs.  Madison  listened  with  more  equa- 
nimity than  Betty  anticipated. 

"  I  suppose  I  may  consider  myself  fortunate  that  I 
have  not  had  one  of  his  brats  thrust  on  me  before,"  she 
remarked  philosophically.  "  What  are  we  to  do  about 
this  creature?  " 

"  There  is  only  one  human  thing  to  do.  It  is  not 
her  fault,  and  she  is  very  wretched  at  present.  And 


Senator  North  89 

now  that  I  know  the  truth  I  suppose  I  am  as  respon- 
sible as  my  father  would  be  if  he  were  alive.  I  shall 
go  to  see  her  to-morrow,  and  if  she  is  presentable  and 
seems  good  I  shall  bring  her  to  Washington.  Of 
course  I  shall  not  bring  her  here  without  your  permis- 
sion —  it  is  your  house.  Let  me  read  you  his  letter." 

"Do  you  feel  very  strongly  on  the  subject?"  Mrs. 
Madison  asked  when  Betty  had  finished. 

"  Oh,  I  do  !  I  do  !  I  will  promise  not  to  bring  her 
to  Washington  at  all  if  she  is  impossible,  but  if  she  is 
all  I  feel  sure  she  must  be,  let  me  bring  her  here  for  a 
few  weeks,  until  we  have  decided  what  to  do  for  her. 
I  know  it  is  a  great  deal  to  ask  — lier  presence  cannot 
fail  to  be  hateful  to  you  — " 

"  My  dear,  I  have  outlived  any  feeling  of  that  sort, 
and  I  have  not  put  everything  on  your  shoulders  all 
these  years  to  thwart  you  now,  when  you  feel  so  deeply. 
Moreover,  an  old  memory  came  to  me  while  you  were 
reading  that  letter.  When  I  was  a  little  girl,  about 
eight  or  ten,  I  spent  an  entire  summer  with  Aunt  Mary 
Eager  at  her  home  in  Virginia.  She  had  a  house  full,  and 
there  were  five  other  little  girls  beside  myself.  A  brook 
ran  across  "the  foot  of  the  plantation,  and  we  were  very 
fond  of  playing  there.  Directly  across  was  the  hut 
of  a  freed  slave  who  had  a  little  girl  about  our  own  age. 
The  child  was  a  beautiful  octaroon.  I  can  see  her 
plainly,  with  her  honey-colored  skin,  her  immense  black 
eyes,  her  long  straight  black  hair,  and  her  stiff  little 
white  frock  tucked  to  the  waist.  Her  mother  took  the 
greatest  pride  in  her,  and  was  always  changing  her 
clothes. 

"  Every  day  she  used  to  come  to  the  edge  of  her 
side  of  the  brook  and  watch  us.  We  never  noticed 


90  Senator  North 

her,  for  although  we  often  played  with  the  little  black 
piccaninnies,  the  yellow  child  of  a  freed  slave  was  an- 
other matter.  One  day  —  I  think  she  had  watched  us 
for  about  a  week  —  she  came  half-way  across  the 
bridge.  We  stared  at  each  other,  but  took  no  notice 
of  her.  The  next  day  she  walked  straight  across  and 
up  to  us,  and  asked  us  very  nicely  if  she  might  play 
with  us.  We  turned  upon  her  six  scarlet  scandalized 
faces,  and  what  we  said,  in  what  brutal  child  language, 
I  do  not  care  to  repeat.  The  child  stared  at  us  for  a 
moment  as  if  she  were  looking  into  the  Inferno  itself, 
and  I  expect  she  was,  poor  little  soul !  Then  she  gave 
a  cry,  and  tore  across  the  bridge  and  up  the  'pike  as 
hard  as  she  could  run.  As  long  as  we  could  see  her 
she  was  running,  and  as  I  never  saw  her  again  —  we 
avoided  the  brook  after  that  —  it  seemed  to  me  for 
years  as  if  she  must  be  running  still.  And  for  years 
those  flying  feet  haunted  me,  and  I  used  to  long  as  I 
grew  older  to  do  penance  in  some  way.  I  befriended 
many  a  poor  yellow  girl,  hoping  she  might  be  that  child. 
Then  life  grew  too  sad  for  me  to  remember  the  sins  of 
my  childhood.  But  I  like  the  idea  of  making  penance 
at  this  late  day  and  receiving  this  girl  for  a  few  weeks 
into  my  house  :  it  will  be  a  penance,  for  I  do  not  fancy 
sitting  at  the  table  with  a  woman  with  negro  blood  in 
her  veins,  I  can  assure  you.  But  I  shall  do  it.  I  be- 
lieve if  I  did  not  I  should  be  haunted  again  by  those 
little  flying  feet.  There  is  no  chance  of  this  being  her 
daughter,  for  she  would  have  been  too  old  to  attract 
your  father's  fancy.  But  that  is  not  the  point.  I 
make  one  condition.  No  one  must  know  the  truth, 
not  even  Sally  or  Jack.  She  must  pass  for  a  distant 
relative,  left  suddenly  destitute." 


Senator  North  91 

"  She  would  probably  be  the  last  to  wish  the  truth 
known.  But  you  have  taken  a  weight  off  my  mind. 
Molly  dear,  and  I  am  deeply  grateful  to  you." 


XII 

THE  next  day  Betty  left  the  train  a  few  minutes  after 
two  o'clock  and  walked  up  the  winding  street  of  a 
small  village  to  the  parsonage.  She  passed  a  number 
of  cottages  picturesquely  dilapidated,  a  store  in  which 
a  half-dozen  men  were  smoking,  and  about  thirty 
lounging  negroes.  On  rising  ground-  was  a  large 
house,  but  the  village  looked  forlorn,  neglected,  almost 
lifeless. 

The  men  in  the  store  came  out  and  stared  at  her ; 
so  did  the  women  from  the  cottages.  And  the  negroes 
stood  still.  Doubtless  they  thought  her  a  wealthy 
vision ;  the  day  was  cold,  and  she  wore  a  brown  cloth 
dress  and  a  sable  jacket  and  toque. 

"  What  a  life  for  an  intelligent  woman  !  "  she  thought, 
glancing  about  her  with  deep  distaste.  "  It  would  be 
enough  to  induce  melancholia  without  the  '  taint.'  " 

She  had  made  a  desperate  effort  in  the  last  twenty- 
four  hours  to  overcome  her  repugnance,  but  had  only 
succeeded  in  making  sure  that  she  could  conceal  it. 
She  had  recalled  her  interview  with  Senator  North 
again  and  again.  His  indubitable  interest  gave  her 
courage,  and  a  desire  to  use  the  best  that  was  in  her. 
And  she  had  turned  her  mind  more  often  still  to  those 
men  in  the  church  and  the  sentiments  they  had 
inspired. 


92  Senator  North 

The  shutters  of  the  parsonage  were  closed,  there 
was  crape  on  the  door.  Betty  turned  the  knob  and 
entered.  A  number  of  people  were  in  a  room  on  the 
right  of  the  hall.  At  the  head  of  the  room,  barely  out- 
lined in  the  heavy  shadows,  was  a  coffin  on  its  trestle. 

The  house  smelt  musty  and  damp.  Betty  pushed 
back  the  door  and  let  in  the  bright  winter  sunlight. 
Some  one  rose  from  the  group  beside  the  coffin  and 
came  slowly  forward.  Betty  waited,  clinching  her 
hands  in  her  muff,  her  breath  coming  shorter.  The 
dark  figure  in  the  dark  room  looked  like  the  shadow 
of  death  itself.  But  it  was  not  superstition  that  made 
Betty  brace  herself.  In  a  moment  the  figure  had 
stepped  into  the  sunlight  beside  her. 

Betty  had  imagined  the  girl  handsome  ;  she  was  not 
prepared  for  splendid  beauty.  Harriet  Walker  was 
far  above  the  ordinary  height  of  woman,  and  very 
slender  and  graceful.  Her  hair  and  eyes  were  black, 
her  skin  smooth  and  white,  her  features  aquiline. 
Hauteur  should  have  been  her  natural  expression,  but 
her  eyes  were  dreamy  and  melancholy,  her  mouth  dis- 
contented. Betty,  in  that  first  rapid  survey,  detected 
but  two  flaws  in  her  beauty :  her  chin  was  weak  and 
her  hands  were  coarse. 

"  You  are  Miss  Madison,"  she  said,  with  the  monot- 
onous inflection  of  grief.  "  Thank  you  for  coming." 

"  I  am  your  half-sister,"  said  Betty,  putting  out  her 
hand.  And  then  the  desire  to  use  the  best  that  was  in 
her  overcame  the  repugnance  that  made  her  very  knees 
shake,  and  she  put  her  arms  about  the  girl  and  kissed 
her. 

"You  are  mighty  kind,"  said  the  other.  "Will  you 
come  into  my  room?" 


Senator  North  93 

Betty  followed  her  into  a  small  room,  simpler  than 
any  in  her  own  servants'  quarter.  But  it  was  neat, 
and  there  was  an  attempt  at  smartness  in  the  bright 
calico  curtains  and  bedspread.  The  furniture  looked 
home-made,  and  there  was  no  carpet  on  the  floor. 

"  Poor  girl !   poor  girl !  "    exclaimed   Betty,  impul 
sively.     "Have  you  ever  been  happy  —  here?" 

"  Well,  I  don't  reckon  I  Ve  been  very  happy,  ever ; 
but  I  've.  given  some  happiness  and  I  Ve  been  loved 
and  sheltered.  That  is  something  to  be  thankful  for 
in  this  world." 

"  I  am  going  to  take  you  away,"  said  Betty,  abruptly. 
"  Mr.  Walker  wrote  me  that  you  'd  be  willing  to  come." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  '11  go,  I  reckon.  I  told  him  I  would. 
I  want  to  hold  up  my  head.  Here  I  never  have,  for 
everybody  knows.  The  white  men  all  round  here 
insulted  me  until  they  got  tired  of  trying  to  make  me 
notice  them.  One  of  the  young  men  up  on  the  plan- 
tation fell  in  love  with  me,  and  they  sent  him  away  and 
he  was  drowned  at  sea.  He  never  knew  that  I  had 
the  black  in  my  blood,  and  he  had  asked  me  to  marry 
him.  They  did  not  tell  him  the  truth,  for  they  feared 
he  would  then  wish  to  make  me  his  mistress." 

She  spoke  without  passion,  with  a  deep  and  settled 
melancholy,  as  if  her  intelligence  had  forbidden  her  to 
combat  the  inevitable.  Betty  burst  into  tears. 

"Don't  cry,"  said  the  other.  "I  never  do  —  any 
more.  I  used  to.  And  if  you  '11  kindly  take  me  away, 
I  know  I  '11  feel  as  if  I  were  born  over.  If  there  is 
anything  in  this  world  to  enjoy,  be  right  sure  I  shall 
enjoy  it.  I  'm  young  yet,  and  I  reckon  nobody  was 
made  to  be  sad  for  ever." 

"You  shall  be  happy,"  exclaimed  Betty.     "I  will 


94  Senator  North 

see  to  that.  I  pledge  myself  to  it.  I  will  make  you 
forget  —  everything." 

Harriet  shook  her  head.  "  Not  everything.  Some- 
where in  my  body,  hidden  away,  but  there,  is  a  black 
vein,  the  blood  of  slaves.  I  might  get  to  be  happy 
with  lots  of  books  and  kind  people  and  no  one  to 
despise  me  for  what  I  can't  help,  but  every  night  I  'd 
remember  that,  and  then  I  reckon  I'd  feel  mighty 
bad." 

"You  think  so  now,"  said  Betty,  soothingly,  and 
longing  for  consolation  herself.  "  But  when  you  are 
surrounded  by  friends  who  love  you  for  what  you  are, 
by  all  that  goes  to  make  life  comfortable  and  —  and  — 
gay ;  it  seems  terribly  soon  to  speak  of  it,  but  I  shall 
take  you  to  all  the  theatres  and  buy  you  beautiful 
clothes,  and  I  shall  settle  on  you  what  your  father  left 
me  :  it  is  only  right  you  should  have  it  and  feel  inde- 
pendent. You  will  travel  and  see  all  the  beautiful  things 
in  Europe.  Oh,  I  know  that  in  time  you  will  forget. 
When  you  are  away  from  all  that  reminds,  you  cannot 
fail  to  forget." 

Harriet,  who  had  followed  Betty's  words  with  an 
eager  lifting  of  her  heavy  eyelids  and  almost  a  smile  on 
her  mouth,  brought  her  lips  together  as  Betty  ceased 
speaking,  and  held  out  her  hand. 

"  Do  you  see  nothing?  "  she  asked. 

Betty  took  the  hand  in  hers.  "  What  do  you  mean  ?  " 
she  demanded.  "  All  that  —  the  roughness  —  will  wear 
off.  It  will  be  gone  in  a  month." 

"  There  is  something  there  that  will  never  wear  off. 
Look  right  hard  at  the  finger-nails." 

Betty  lifted  the  hand  to  her  face,  vaguely  recalling 
observations  of  her  mother  when  discussing  suspicious- 


Senator  North  95 

looking  brunettes  seen  in  the  North.  There  was  a  faint 
bluish  stain  at  the  base  of  the  nails ;  and  she  remem- 
bered. It  was  the  outward  and  indelible  print  of  the 
hidden  vein  within.  The  nails  are  the  last  stronghold 
of  negro  blood.  She  dropped  the  hand  with  an  un- 
controllable shudder  and  covered  her  face  with  her 
muff. 

"  I  feel  so  horribly  sorry  for  you,"  she  said  hastily. 
"  It  seemed  to  me  for  the  moment  as  if  your  trouble 
were  my  own." 

If  the  girl  understood,  she  made  no  sign ;  hers  had 
been  a  life  of  self-control,  and  she  had  been  despised 
from  her  birth. 

"Tell  me  what  you  wish  me  to  do  now,"  said  Betty, 
lifting  her  head.  "When  can  you  leave  here?  Do 
you  wish  me  to  stay  with  you?  Is  it  impossible  for 
you  to  go  to-day?" 

"  I  cannot  leave  him  until  he  is  buried.  And  you 
could  n't  stay  here.  This  is  Tuesday.  I  '11  go 
Thursday." 

Betty  thrust  a  roll  of  bills  into  a  drawer.  "  They  are 
yours  by  right,"  she  said  hurriedly.  "Go  first  to 
Richmond  -and  get  a  handsome  black  frock ;  you  will 
be  sure  to  find  what  you  want  ready  made,  and  it 
will  be  better  —  on  account  of  the  servants  —  for  you  to 
look  well  when  you  arrive.  Spend  it  all.  There  is 
plenty  more.  Buy  all  sorts  of  nice  things.  I  will  go 
now.  There  is  a  train  soon.  Telegraph  when  you 
start  for  Washington  and  I  will  meet  you.  Good  by, 
and  please  be  sure  that  I  shall  make  you  happy." 

Harriet  walked  out  to  the  gate,  and  Betty  saw  that 
there  were  fine  lines  on  her  brow  and  about  her  mouth. 
But  she  was  very  beautiful,  sombre  and  blighted  as  she 


96  Senator  North 

was.     She  clung  to  Betty  for  a  moment  at  parting,  then 
went  rapidly  into  the  house. 

When  Betty  reached  the  street,  she  restrained  an 
impulse  to  run,  but  she  walked  faster  than  she  had  ever 
walked  in  her  life,  persuading  herself  that  she  feared  to 
miss  her  train.  She  waited  three  quarters  of  an  hour 
for  it,  and  there  were  four  dreary  hours  more  before  she 
saw  the  dome  of  the  Capitol.  She  arrived  at  home  with 
a  splitting  headache  and  an  animal  craving  to  lock  her- 
self in  her  room  and  get  into  bed.  For  the  time  being 
no  mortal  interested  her,  she  was  exhausted  and  emo- 
tionless. She  described  the  interview  briefly  to  her 
mother,  then  sought  the  solitude  she  craved.  And  as 
she  was  young  and  healthy,  she  soon  fell  asleep. 


XIII 

WHEN  she  awoke  next  morning  she  arose  and  dressed 
herself  at  once  :  in  bed  the  will  loses  its  control  over 
thought,  and  she  wished  to  think  as  little  as  possible. 
But  her  mind  reverted  to  the  day  before,  in  spite  of  her 
will,  and  she  laughed  suddenly  and  went  to  her  desk 
and  wrote  on  a  slip  of  paper,  — 

"  Every  woman  writes  with  one  eye  on  the  page  and  one 
eye  on  some  man,  except  the  Countess  Hahn-Hahn,  who 
has  only  one  eye."  —  HEINE.  . 

"  Some  day  when  I  know  him  better  I  will  give  him 
this,"  she  thought,  and  put  the  slip  into  a  drawer  by 
itself. 

The  load  of  care  had  lifted  itself  and  gone.  She  had 
done  the  right  thing,  the  momentous  question  was 


Senator  North  97 

settled  for  the  present,  and  Betty  Madison  had  merely 
to  shake  her  shoulders  and  enjoy  life  again.  She  threw 
open  the  window  and  let  in  the  sun.  There  had  been 
a  rain-storm  in  the  night  and  then  a  severe  frost.  The 
ice  glistened  on  the  naked  trees,  encasing  and  jewelling 
them.  A  park  near  by  looked  as  if  the  crystal  age  of 
the  world  had  come.  The  bronze  equestrian  statue 
within  that  little  wood  of  radiant  trees  alone  defied  the 
ice-storm,  as  if  the  dignity  of  the  death  it  represented 
rebuked  the  lavish  hand  of  Nature. 

Betty  felt  happy  and  elated,  and  blew  a  kiss  to  the 
beauty  about  her.  She  always  had  had  a  large  fund 
of  the  purely  animal  joy  in  being  alive,  but  to-day  she 
was  fully  conscious  that  the  tremulous  quality  of  her 
gladness  was  due  to  the  knowledge  that  she  should  see 
Senator  North  within  five  more  days  and  the  light  of 
approval  in  his  eyes.  Exactly  what  her  feeling  for  him 
was  she  made  no  attempt  to  define.  She  did  not  care. 
It  was  enough  that  the  prospect  of  seeing  him  made 
her  happier  than  she  ever  had  felt  before.  That  might 
go  on  indefinitely  and  she  would  ask  for  nothing  more. 
Her  recent  contact  with  the  serious-practical  side  of 
life  —  as  distinct  from  the  serious-intellectual  which 
she  had  cultivated  more  than  once  —  had  terrified  her ; 
she  wanted  the  pleasant,  thrilling,  unformulated  part. 
For  the  first  time  one  of  her  ideals  had  come  forth 
from  the  mists  of  fancy  and  filled  her  vision  as  a  man ; 
and  he  was  become  the  strongest  influence  in  her  life. 
As  yet  he  was  unaware  of  this  honor,  and  she  doubtless 
occupied  a  very  small  corner  of  his  thought ;  but  he 
was  interested  at  last,  and  he  was  coming  to  see  her. 
And  then  he  would  come  again  and  again,  and  she 
would  always  feel  this  same  glad  quiver  in  her  soul. 

7 


98 


Senator  North 


She  felt  no  regret  that  she  could  not  marry  him  ;  the 
question  of  marriage  but  brushed  her  mind  and  was 
dismissed  in  haste.  That  was  a  serious  subject,  glum 
indeed,  and  dark.  She  was  glad  that  circumstance 
limited  her  imagination  to  the  happy  present.  She 
felt  sixteen,  and  as  if  the  world  were  but  as  old.  Love 
and  the  intellect  have  little  in  common.  They  can 
jog  along  side  by  side  and  not  exchange  a  comment. 

"  Come  down  and  take  a  walk,"  cried  a  staccato 
voice.  Sally  Carter  was  standing  on  the  sidewalk,  her 
head  thrown  back.  Betty  nodded,  put  on  her  things 
and  ran  downstairs.  Miss  Carter  was  wrapped  in  an 
old  cape,  and  her  turban  was  on  one  side,  but  she 
looked  rosier  than  usual. 

"  I  've  been  half-way  out  to  Chevy  Chase,"  she 
said,  "and  I  was  just  thinking  of  paying  poor  old 
General  Lathom  a  visit.  He  does  look  so  well  in 
bronze,  poor  old  dear,  and  all  that  ice  round  him 
will  make  him  seem  like  an  ogre  in  fairy-land.  He 
was  n't  a  bit  of  an  ogre,  he  was  downright  afraid  of 
me." 

"  I  suppose  a  man  really  feels  as  great  a  fool  as  he 
looks  when  he  is  proposing  to  a  woman  he  is  not  sure 
of.  I  wonder  why  they  ever  do.  After  I  gave  up 
coquetting,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  wasn't 
honest,  they  proposed  just  the  same." 

"  Some  women  unconsciously  establish  a  habit  of 
being  proposed  to.  I  've  had  very  few  proposals,  and 
I  know  several  really  beautiful  women  who  have  had 
practically  none.  As  I  said,  it's  a  habit,  and  you 
can't  account  for  it." 

"  I  went  yesterday  to  Virginia  to  call  on  a  relative 
who  has  just  lost  her  last  adopted  parent/'  said  Betty, 


Senator  North  99 

abruptly,  "  and  she  looked  so  forlorn  that  I  asked  her 
to  visit  us  for  a  while.     I  hope  you  '11  like  her." 

"Ah?  She  must  be  some  relation  of  mine,  too. 
You  and  I  are  third  cousins." 

"  Don't  ask  me  to  straighten  it  out.  The  ramifica- 
tions of  Southern  kinships  are  beyond  me.  She  is  a 
beauty  —  very  dark  and  tragic." 

"  That  is  kind  of  you  —  to  run  the  risk  of  Senator 
Burleigh  going  off  at  a  tangent,"  said  Miss  Carter, 
sharply.  "  By  the  way,  you  cannot  deny  that  you  have 
given  him  encouragement ;  you  have  neither  eyes  nor 
ears  for  any  one  else  when  he  is  round." 

"  He  is  usually  the  most  interesting  person  '  round  ; ' 
and  I  have  a  concentrative  mind.  But  I  never  intend 
to  marry,  and  Senator  Burleigh  has  never  even  looked 
as  if  he  wanted  to  propose.  By  the  way,  Molly  has 
actually  asked  him  to  come  to  the  Adirondacks  for  a 
few  days.  Can't  you  and  your  father  come  for  a 
month  or  two?  Jack  has  promised  to  stay  with  us 
the  whole  summer,  and  we  '11  be  quite  a  family  party." 

"  Yes,  I  will,"  said  Miss  Carter,  promptly.  "  I 
have  n't  been  in  the  Adirondacks  for  six  years  and  I 
should  love  it." 

"  Harriet  Walker  —  that 's  our  new  cousin  —  will 
be  with  us  too,  most  likely.  She  looks  delicate,  and  I 
shall  try  to  persuade  her  that  she  needs  the  pines." 

"Ah!  lookout  for  the  Senator  —  in  the  dark  pine 
forests  on  the  mountain." 

"  I  don't  know  why  you  should  be  so  concerned  for 
me.  I  usually  have  kept  an  admirer  as  long  as  I 
wanted  him." 

"  Oh,  no  offence,  dear.  The  dark  and  tragic  lady 
merely  filled  my  eye  at  the  moment.  By  the  way,  Mrs. 


ioo  Senator  North 

North  thinks  of  going  to  the  Lake  Hotel  this  summer. 
Isn't  that  close  by  your  place?  " 

"  It  is  just  across  the  lake.  There  is  your  old  Gen- 
eral. He  does  look  like  an  ogre,  and  he  's  got  a  patch 
of  green  mould  on  his  nose.  You  ought  to  take  better 
care  of  him." 

"  He  looks  so  much  better  than  he  did  in  life  that 
I  have  no  fault  to  find.  The  doctor  has  told  Mrs. 
North  that  the  pine  forests  may  do  her  all  the  good  in 
the  world,  prolong  her  life,  and  Mr.  North  has  written 
to  see  if  he  can  get  an  entire  wing  for  her.  I  hope  he 
can  go  too,  but  he  always  seems  to  have  so  much  to 
do  at  home  in  summer.  I  do  like  him.  He  's  the 
only  man  I  know  who,  I  feel  positive,  never  could 
make  a  fool  of  himself." 

"  I  am  half  starved.  Come  home  and  have  your 
breakfast  with  me." 

"  I  should  like  to.     Senator  North  —  " 

"  There  is  Mr.  Burleigh  on  horseback  —  with  Mr. 
Montgomery.  He  will  look  well  in  bronze  —  but  they 
only  put  Generals  on  horseback,  don't  they?  There  — 
he  sees  me.  I  am  going  to  ask  them  to  come  in  to 
breakfast." 

"  I  believe  you  like  him  better  than  you  think,  my 
dear.  Your  eyes  shine  like  two  suns,  and  I  never  saw 
you  look  so  happy." 

"The  morning  is  so  beautiful  and  I  am  so  glad 
that  I  am  alive.  I  know  exactly  how  much  I  like  Mr. 
Burleigh." 


Senator  North  101 


XIV 

"  Do  all  Southerners  make  such  delicious  coffee  ? " 
asked  Senator  Burleigh,  as  the  four  sat  about  the 
attractive  table  in  the  breakfast-room. 

"  The  Southerners  are  the  only  cooks  in  the  United 
States,"  announced  Miss  Carter.  "The  real  difference 
between  the  South  and  the  North  is  that  one  enjoys 
itself  getting  dyspepsia  and  the  other  does  not." 

"  There  are  just  six  kinds  of  hot  bread  on  this 
table,"  said  Burleigh,  meditatively. 

"  And  no  pie  and  no  doughnuts.  Mr.  Montgomery, 
you  are  really  a  Southerner  —  ar'  n't  you  glad  to  get 
back  to  darky  cooks?" 

"  I  was  until  we  began  on  this  tariff  bill,  and  now 
there  is  not  an  object  you  can  mention,  edible  or 
otherwise,  that  I  don't  loathe." 

"The  details  of  such  a  bill  must  be  maddening," 
said  Betty,  sympathetically,  "  but,  after  all,  it  is  an 
honor  to  be  on  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee. 
There  is  compensation  in  everything." 

"  I  don't  know.  When  a  man  lobbyist  tries  to  find 
out  your  weak  spot  and  play  on  it,  you  can  kick  him 
out  of  the  house,  but  when  they  set  a  woman  at  you, 
all  you  can  do  is  to  bow  and  say  :  '  My  dear  madam, 
it  is  with  the  greatest  regret  I  am  obliged  to  inform 
you  that  I  have  sat  up  every  night  until  three  o'clock 
studying  this  subject,  and  that  I  have  made  up  my 
mind.'  Whereupon  she  talks  straight  ahead  and  hints 
at  trouble  with  certain  constituents  next  year  who 
want  free  coal  and  an  exorbitant  duty  on  Zante  cur- 


102  Senator  North 

rants,  raisins,  wine,  and  wool.  The  whole  army  of 
lobbyists  have  camped  on  my  doorstep  ever  since  we 
began  to  draw  up  this  bill.  How  they  find  time  to 
camp  on  any  one's  else  would  make  an  interesting 
study  in  ubiquity." 

"  I  am  afraid  some  of  your  ideals  have  been  shat- 
tered, and  I  am  afraid  you  are  shattering  some  of  Miss 
Madison's,"  said  Burleigh,  smiling  into  Betty's  dis- 
gusted face. 

"  I  hate  the  dirty  work  of  politics,"  said  Montgomery, 
gloomily.  "  Of  course  it  does  n't  demoralize  you  so 
long  as  you  keep  your  own  hands  clean,  but  it  is 
sickening  to  suspect  that  you  are  sitting  cheek  by  jowl 
in  the  Committee  Room  with  a  man  whose  pocket  is 
stuffed  with  some  Trust  Company's  shares." 

"  I  used  to  hate  it,  but  I  don't  see  any  remedy  until 
we  have  an  educated  generation  of  high-class  politicians, 
and  I  think  that  millennium  is  not  far  off.  As  matters 
stand,  there  is  bound  to  be  a  certain  percentage  of 
scoundrels  and  of  men  too  weak  to  resist  a  bribe  in 
a  great  and  shifting  body  like  the  House.  Any  scoun- 
drel feels  that  he  can  slink  among  the  rest  unseen. 
The  old  members  who  have  been  returned  term  after 
term  since  they  began  to  grow  stubby  beards  on  their 
cast-iron  chins  are  an  argument  against  rotation ;  they 
have  had  a  chance  to  acquire  the  confidence  of  the 
public,  they  are  experienced  legislators,  and  they  are 
incorruptible." 

Betty  drew  a  long  sigh  of  relief.  "  You  have  cleared 
up  the  atmosphere  a  little,"  she  said.  "  I  thought  I 
was  going  to  learn  that  the  House,  at  least,  was  one 
hideous  mass  of  corruption,  praying  for  burial." 

"That  is  what  they  think  of  us  outside,"  said  Mont- 


Senator  North  103 

gomery.  "We  might  as  well  all  be  gangrene,  for  we 
get  the  credit  of  it." 

"  I  don't  like  your  similes,"  said  Miss  Carter ;  "  I 
have  n't  finished  my  breakfast.  Mr.  Burleigh,  you  've 
put  on  your  senatorial  manner  and  I  like  you  better 
without  it.  I  thought  you  were  going  to  say,  '  Don't 
interrupt,  please,'  or  *  Would  you  kindly  be  quiet  until 
I  finish? '  at  least  twice." 

"  I  beg  pardon  humbly.  I  am  flattered  to  know  that 
you  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  listen  to  any  remarks 
I  may  have  been  forced  to  make  in  the  Senate." 

"  I  have  been  twice  to  the  gallery  with  Betty,  and 
both  times  you  were  talking  like  a  steam-engine  and 
warning  people  off  the  track." 

It  was  so  apt  a  description  of  Burleigh's  style  when 
on  his  feet  that  even  he  laughed. 

"  I  don't  like  to  be  interrupted  or  contradicted,"  he 
said.  "  I  frankly  admit  it." 

"  Better  not  marry  an  American  girl." 

"  Some  Englishwomen  have  wills  of  their  own," 
remarked  Mr.  Montgomery. 

"  Some  men  are  tyrants  in  public  life  and  slaves 
at  home  —  to  a  beautiful  woman,"  remarked  Senator 
Burleigh. 

"  Some  men  are  so  clever,"  said  Miss  Carter.  "  Give 
me  another  waffle,  please." 


XV 

BETTY  went  to  the  Senate  Gallery  that  afternoon  for 
the  first  time  in  several  days.  It  was  hard  work  to 
keep  up  with  the  calling  frenzy  of  Washington  and  cul- 


104  Senator  North 

tivate  one's  intellect  at  the  same  time.  There  was  no 
one  in  the  private  gallery  but  an  old  man  with  a  hay- 
seed beard  and  horny  hands.  He  sat  on  the  first  chair 
in  the  front  row,  but  rose  politely  to  let  Betty  pass ;  and 
she  took  off  her  veil  and  jacket  and  gloves  and  settled 
herself  for  a  comfortable  afternoon.  She  felt  almost 
as  much  at  home  in  this  family  section  of  the  Senate 
Gallery  as  in  her  own  room  with  a  copy  of  the  Congres- 
sional Record  in  her  hand.  Sometimes  save  for  herself 
it  would  be  empty,  when  every  other  gallery,  but  the 
Diplomats',  of  that  fine  amphitheatre  would  be  nearly 
full.  It  was  crowded,  however,  when  it  was  unofficially 
known  that  a  favorite  Senator  would  speak,  or  an  im- 
portant bill  on  the  calendar  provoke  a  debate.  L£on- 
tine  no  longer  accompanied  her  mistress ;  she  had 
threatened  to  leave  unless  exempted  from  political 
duty. 

To-day  a  distinguished  Senator  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Chamber  was  attacking  with  caustic  emphasis  a  Re- 
publican measure.  He  was  the  only  man  in  the  Senate 
with  a  real  Uncle  Sam  beard.  Senator  Shattuc's  waved 
like  a  golden  fan  from  his  powerful  jaw ;  but  the  Demo- 
cratic appendage  opposite  was  long  and  narrow,  and 
whisked  over  the  Senator's  shoulder  like  the  tail  of  a 
comet,  when  he  became  heated  in  controversy.  It  was 
flying  about  at  a  great  rate  to-day,  and  Betty  was 
watching  it  with  much  interest,  when  a  proud  voice 
remarked  in  her  ear,  — 

"  That 's  my  Senator,  marm.  He 's  powerful  elo- 
quent, ain't  he?" 

Betty  nodded.     "  He 's  quite  a  leader." 

"  I  allow  he  is.  He  's  been  leadin*  in  our  State  fur 
twenty  years.  I  allus  wanted  to  hear  him  speak  in 


Senator  North  105 

Congress,  and  when  I  called  on  him  last  Monday  — 
when  I  come  to  Washington  —  he  told  me  to  come  up 
here  to-day  and  hear  him,  and  he  would  set  me  in  the 
Senators'  Gallery.  And  he  did." 

His  voice  became  a  distant  humming  in  Betty's  ears. 
Senator  North  had  entered  and  taken  his  seat.  He 
apparently  settled  himself  to  listen  to  the  speech,  and 
he  looked  as  calm  and  unhurried  as  usual. 

"That's  North,"  whispered  the  old  man.  "There 
wuz  a  lady  in  here  a  spell  since  who  pinted  a  lot  of  'em 
out  to  me.  He  looks  a  little  too  hard  and  stern  to  suit 
me.  I  like  the  kind  that  slaps  you  on  the  back  and 
says  '  Howdy.'  Now  Senator  North,  he  never  would  : 
I  know  plenty  that  knows  him.  He  's  aristocratic ;  and 
I  don't  like  his  politics,  neither.  I  allus  suspicion  that 
politicians  ain't  all  right  when  they  're  aristocratic." 

"  He  does  not  happen  to  be  a  politician." 

"Hey?" 

"Don't  you  want  to  listen  to  your  Senator?  He  is 
very  eloquent." 

"  He 's  been  speakin'  fur  an  hour  steady,"  said  the 
visitor  to  Washington,  philosophically.  "I  kinder 
thought  I  'd  like  to  talk  to  you  a  spell.  Hev  you  seen 
the  new  Librayry?" 

"  Oh,  yes ;  I  live  here." 

"Do  ye?  Well,  you're  lucky.  For  this  city's  so 
grand  it 's  jest  a  pleasure  to  walk  around.  And  that 
Librayry 's  the  most  beautiful  buildin'  I  ever  saw  in  all 
my  seventy-two  years.  I  've  been  twice  a  day  to  look 
at  it,  and  it  makes  me  feel  proud  to  be  an  Amurrican. 
If  Paradise  is  any  more  beautiful  than  that  there 
buildin',  I  do  want  to  go  there." 

Betty  smiled  with   the  swift  sympathy  she   always 


106  Senator  North 

felt  for  genuine  simplicity,  and  the  old  man's  pride  in 
his  country's  latest  achievement  was  certainly  touching. 
She  refrained  from  telling  him  that  she  thought  the 
red  and  yellow  ceilings  hideous,  and  delighted  him 
with  the  assurance  that  it  was  the  finest  modern  build- 
ing in  the  world. 

"What 's  happened  to  ye?  "  he  asked  sharply,  a  mo- 
ment later.  "You've  straightened  up  and  thrown 
back  your  head  as  if  ye  owned  the  hull  Senate." 

Senator  North  had  wheeled  about  slowly  and  glanced 
up  at  the  private  gallery.  Then  he  had  risen  abruptly 
and  gone  into  the  cloak-room. 

"  Perhaps  I  do,"  said  Betty. 

She  spoke  thickly.  It  seemed  incredible  that  he 
was  coming  up  to  the  gallery  at  last.  She  had  another 
humble  moment  and  felt  it  to  be  a  great  honor.  But 
she  smiled  so  brilliantly  at  the  old  man  that  he  grinned 
with  delight. 

"  I  presume  you  're  the  darter  of  one  of  these  here 
Senators,"  he  said ;  "  one  of  the  rich  ones.  You  look 
as  if  ye  hed  it  all  your  own  way  in  life,  and  seein'  as 
you  're  young  and  pretty,  meanin'  no  offence,  I  'm  glad 
you  hev.  Is  your  pa  one  of  the  leadin'  six?  " 

"  My  father  is  dead."  She  heard  the  door  open  and 
turned  her  head  quickly.  It  was  Senator  Shattuc  who 
had  entered.  He  walked  rapidly  down  the  aisle,  took 
a  seat  in  the  second  row  of  chairs,  and  gave  her  a  hearty 
grip  of  the  hand. 

"How  are  you?"  he  asked.  "I  was  glad  to  see 
you  were  up  here.  You  always  look  so  pleased  with 
the  world  that  it  does  me  good  to  get  a  glimpse  of 
you." 

Betty  liked  Senator  Shattuc,  and  held  him  in  high 


Senator  North  107 

esteem,  but  at  that  moment  she  would  willingly  have 
set  fire  to  his  political  beard.  She  was  used  to  self- 
control,  however,  and  she  chatted  pleasantly  with  him 
for  ten  minutes,  while  her  heart  seemed  to  descend  to 
a  lower  rib,  and  her  brain  reiterated  that  eternal  ques- 
tion of  woman  which  must  reverberate  in  the  very  ears 
of  Time  himself. 

He  came  at  last,  and  Senator  Shattuc  amiably  got  up 
and  let  him  pass  in,  then  took  the  chair  behind  the 
old  man  and  asked  him  a  few  good-natured  questions 
before  turning  to  Betty  again. 

"  I  started  to  come  some  time  ago,"  said  Senator 
North,  "but  I  was  detained  in  one  of  the  corridors. 
It  is  hard  to  escape  being  buttonholed.  This  time  it 
was  by  a  young  woman  from  my  State  who  wants  a 
position  in  the  Pension  Office.  If  it  had  been  a  man 
I  should  have  ordered  him  about  his  business,  but  of 
course  one  of  your  charming  sex  in  distress  is  an- 
other matter.  However,  I  got  rid  of  her,  and  here 
I  am." 

"  I  knew  you  were  coming.  I  should  have  waited 
for  you."  Now  that  he  was  there  she  subdued  her 
exuberance -of  spirit;  but  she  permitted  her  voice  to 
soften  and  her  eyes  to  express  something  more  than 
hospitality.  He  was  looking  directly  into  them,  and 
his  hard  powerful  face  was  bright  with  pleasure. 

"  It  suddenly  occurred  to  me  that  you  might  be  up 
here,"  he  said;  "and  I  lost  no  time  finding  out." 
He  lowered  his  voice.  "  Did  you  go  ?  Has  it 
turned  out  all  right  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  went !  I  '11  tell  you  all  about  it  on  Sunday. 
I  never  had  such  a  painful  experience." 

"  Well,  I  'm  glad  you  had  it.     You  would  have  felt 


io8  Senator  North 

a  great  deal  worse  if  you  had  shirked  it.  However  — 
Yes?" 

Senator  Shattuc  was  asking  him  if  he  thought  the 
Democratic  Senator  was  in  his  usual  form. 

"  No,"  he  said,  "  I  don't.  What  is  he  wasting  his 
wind  for,  anyway?  We'll  pass  the  bill,  and  he's 
all  right  with  his  constituents.  They  know  there  's  no 
more  rabid  watch-dog  of  the  Treasury  in  America." 

"  I  suspect  it  does  him  good  to  bark  at  us,"  said 
Senator  Shattuc. 

The  old  man  looked  uneasy.  "Ain't  that  a  great 
speech?"  he  asked. 

The  two  Senators  laughed.  "  Well,  it 's  better  than 
some,"  said  Shattuc.  "And  few  can  make  a  better 
when  he  's  got  a  subject  worthy  of  him,"  he  added 
kindly. 

"  That 's  perlite,  seein'  as  you  're  a  Republican. 
I  allow  as  I  '11  go.  Good-day,  marm.  I  '11  never 
forgit  as  how  you  told  me  you  'd  bin  all  over  Yurrup 
and  that  there  ain't  no  modern  buildin'  so  fine  as  our 
new  Librayry.  Good-day  to  ye,  sirs." 

Senator  Shattuc  shook  him  warmly  by  the  hand. 
Senator  North  nodded,  and  Betty  gave  him  a  smile 
which  she  meant  to  be  cordial  but  was  a  trifle  absent. 
She  wished  that  Senator  Shattuc  would  follow  him,  but 
he  sat  down  again  at  once.  He,  too,  felt  at  home  in 
that  gallery,  and  it  had  never  occurred  to  him  that 
one  Senator  might  be  more  welcome  there  than 
another.  Senator  North's  face  hardened,  and  Betty, 
fearing  that  he  would  go,  said  hurriedly, — 

"  Ar'  n't  you  ever  going  to  speak  again  ?  I  have 
heard  you  only  once." 

"  I   rarely  make  set  speeches,  although  I  not  in- 


Senator  North  109 

frequently  engage  in  debate  —  when  some  measure 
comes  up  that  needs  airing." 

"You  ought  to  speak  oftener,  North,"  said  Senator 
Shattuc.  "  You  always  wake  us  up." 

"  You  have  no  business  to  go  to  sleep.  If  I  talked 
when  I  had  nothing  to  say,  you  'd  soon  cease  to  be 
waked  up.  Our  friend  over  there  has  put  three  of  our 
esteemed  colleagues  to  sleep.  He  '11  clear  the  gal- 
leries in  a  moment  and  interfere  with  Norris's  record. 
—  I  suppose  you  have  never  seen  that  memorable 
sight,"  he  said  to  Betty :  "  an  entire  gallery  audience 
get  up  and  walk  out  when  a  certain  Senator  takes  the 
floor?" 

"  How  very  rude  !  " 

"  The  great  American  public  loves  a  show,  and  when 
the  show  is  not  to  its  taste  it  has  no  hesitation  in  mak- 
ing its  displeasure  known." 

"  Why  do  you  despise  the  great  American  public  ? 
You  never  raise  your  voice  so  that  any  one  in  the 
second  row  up  here  can  hear  you." 

"  I  have  no  love  for  the  gallery.  Nor  do  I  talk  to 
constituents,  When  it  is  necessary  to  talk  to  my 
colleagues,  I  do  so,  and  it  matters  little  to  me  whether 
the  reporters  and  the  public  hear  me  or  not.  When 
my  constituents  are  particularly  anxious  to  know  what 
stand  I  have  taken  on  a  certain  question,  I  have  the 
speech  printed  and  send  it  to  them ;  but  as  a  rule 
they  take  my  course  for  granted  and  let  me  alone." 

"But  tell  me,  Mr.  North,"  said  Betty,  squaring 
about  and  putting  her  questions  so  pointedly  that  he, 
perforce,  must  answer  them,  "  would  you  really  not 
like  to  make  a  speech  down  there  that  would  thrill  the 
nation,  as  the  speeches  of  Clay  and  Webster  used  to  ? 


1 1  o  Senator  North 

And  you  could  make  a  speech  like  that.     Why  don't 
you?" 

"  My  dear  Miss  Madison,  if  I  attempted  to  thrill 
the  American  people  by  lofty  emotions  and  an  im- 
passioned appeal  to  their  higher  selves,  I  should  only 
bring  down  a  storm  of  ridicule  from  seven-eighths  of 
the  American  press.  I  could  survive  that,  for  I  should 
not  read  it,  but  my  effort  would  be  thrown  away.  The 
people  to  whom  it  was  directed  would  feel  ashamed  of 
what  thrill  was  left  in  it  after  it  had  reached  them 
through  the  only  possible  medium.  This  is  the  age 
—  in  this  country  —  of  hard  practical  sense  without 
any  frills,  or  thrills.  It  is  true  that  there  is  a  certain 
amount  of  sham  oratory  surviving  in  the  Senate,  but 
the  very  fact  that  it  is  sham  protects  it  from  the  press. 
The  real  thing  would  irritate  and  alarm  the  spirits  of 
mediocrity  and  sensationalism  which  dominate  the 
press  to-day.  A  sensational  speech,  one  in  which  a 
man  makes  a  fool  of  himself,  it  delights  in,  and  it 
encourages  him  by  half  a  column  of  head-lines.  A 
speech  by  a  great  man,  granted  that  we  had  one,  car- 
ried away  by  lofty  patriotism  and  striving  to  raise  his 
country,  if  only  for  a  moment,  to  his  own  pure  altitude, 
would  make  the  press  feel  uneasy  and  resentful,  and  it 
would  neutralize  every  word  he  uttered  by  the  surest 
of  all  acids,  ridicule.  An  American  statesman  of  to- 
day must  be  content  to  legislate  quietly,  to  use  his 
intellect  and  his  patriotism  in  the  Committee  Room, 
and  to  keep  a  sharp  eye  on  the  bills  brought  forward 
by  other  Committees.  As  for  speeches,  those  look 
best  in  the  Record  which  make  no  appeal  to  the 
gallery.  There,  you  cannot  say  I  have  not  made  you 
a  speech !  " 


Senator  North  in 

"  Well,  make  me  another,  and  tell  me  why  you  even 
consider  the  power  of  the  press.  I  mean,  how  you 
bring  yourself  even  to  think  about  it.  You  have  defied 
public  opinion  more  than  once.  You  have  stood  up 
and  told  your  own  State  that  it  was  wrong  and  that 
you  would  not  legislate  as  it  demanded.  I  am  sure 
you  would  defy  the  whole  country,  if  you  felt  like  it." 

"Ah,  that  is  another  matter.  The  hard-headed 
American  respects  honest  convictions,  especially  when 
they  are  maintained  in  defiance  of  self-interest.  I 
never  shall  lose  my  State  by  an  unwavering  policy, 
however  much  I  may  irritate  it  for  the  moment.  I 
could  a  heterogeneous  Western  State,  of  course,  but 
not  a  New  England  one.  We  are  a  conservative, 
strong-willed  race,  and  we  despise  the  waverer.  We 
are  hard  because  it  always  has  been  a  hard  struggle 
for  survival  with  us.  Therefore  we  know  what  we  want, 
and  we  have  no  desire  to  change  when  we  get  it. 
There  goes  the  bell  for  Executive  Session.  You  and 
I  must  go  our  different  ways." 


XVI 

"Do  you  dislike  her?"  asked  Betty  anxiously  of  her 
mother  on  the  night  of  Harriet's  arrival.  "I  do  not, 
and  yet  I  feel  that  I  never  can  love  her  —  could  not 
even  if  it  were  not  for  that." 

"  It  is  that.  You  never  will  love  her.  I  cannot  say 
that  she  has  made  any  impression  on  me  whatever,  so 
far.  She  seems  positively  congealed.  I  suppose  she 


1 1 2  Senator  North 

is  frightened  and  worn  out,  poor  thing  !  She  may  im- 
prove when  she  is  rested  and  happier." 

And  the  next  day,  as  Betty  drove  her  about  the  city 
and  showed  her  the  classic  public  buildings,  the  parks, 
white  and  glittering  under  a  light  fall  of  snow,  the  wide 
avenues  in  which  no  one  seemed  to  hurry,  and  the 
stately  private  dwellings,  Harriet's  eyes  were  wide  open 
with  pleasure,  and  she  sat  up  straight  and  alert. 

"And  I  am  really  to  live  in  this  wonderful  city?  " 
she  exclaimed.  "  How  long  will  it  be  before  I  shall 
have  seen  all  the  beautiful  things  inside  those  build- 
ings? Do  you  mean  that  I  can  go  through  all  of 
them?  Why,  I  never  even  dreamed  that  I'd  really 
see  the  world  one  day.  All  I  prayed  for  was  books, 
more  books.  And  now  I  'm  living  in  a  house  with  a 
right  smart  library,  and  you  will  let  me  read  them  all. 
I  don't  know  which  makes  me  feel  most  happy." 

"  I  will  ask  my  cousin,  Mr.  Emory,  to  take  you  to  all 
the  galleries,  and  you  must  go  to  the  White  House 
and  shake  hands  with  the  President." 

"  Oh,  I  should  like  to  !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  I  should 
like  to  !  I  should  indeed  feel  proud."  She  flushed 
suddenly  and  turned  away  her  head.  Betty  called  her 
attention  hastily  to  a  shop  window :  they  had  turned 
into  F  Street.  She  was  determined  that  the  obnoxious 
subject  should  never  be  mentioned  between  them  if 
she  could  help  it. 

"  I  '11  take  you  to  New  York  and  show  you  the  shops 
there,"  she  continued.  "  New  York  was  invented  that 
woman  might  appreciate  her  superiority  over  man." 

"  I  'd  love  a  yellow  satin  dress  trimmed  with  red 
and  blue  beads,"  said  Harriet,  thoughtfully. 

Betty  shuddered.     For  the  moment  F  Street  seemed 


Senator  North  113 

flaunting  with  old  Aunty  Dinah's  bandannas.  She 
replied  hurriedly, — 

"  You  will  have  all  sorts  of  new  ideas  by  the  time 
you  go  out  of  mourning.  I  suppose  you  will  wear 
black  for  a  year." 

"  That  makes  me  think.  While  I  'm  in  black  I  can't 
see  your  fine  friends.  I  'd  like  to  study.  Could  I 
afford  a  teacher?" 

"  You  can  have  a  dozen.  I  've  told  you  that  I 
intend  to  turn  over  to  you  the  money  father  left 
me.  Mr.  Emory  will  attend  to  it.  You  will  have 
about  five  hundred  dollars  a  month  to  do  what  you 
like  with." 

The  girl  gasped,  then  shook  her  head.  "  I  can't 
realize  that  sum,"  she  said.  "  But  I  know  it 's  riches, 
and  I  wish  —  I  wish  he  were  alive." 

"  If  he  were  you  would  not  have  it,  for  I  should 
not  know  of  you.  You  will  enjoy  having  a  French 
teacher  and  a  Professor  of  Belles  Lettres.  Have  you 
any  talent  for  music  ?" 

"  I  can  play  the  banjo  —  " 

"  I  mean  for  the  piano." 

"  I  never  saw  one  till  yesterday,  so  I  can't  say. 
But  I  reckon  I  could  play  anything." 

Her  Southern  brogue  was  hardly  more  marked 
than  Jack  Emory's,  but  she  mispronounced  many  of 
her  words  and  dropped  the  final  letters  of  others  :  she 
said  "  hyah  "  for  "  here  "  and  "  do'  "  for  "  door,"  and 
once  she  had  said  "  done  died."  Betty  determined  to 
give  special  instructions  to  the  Professor. 

vSenator  Burleigh  and  Emory  dined  at  the  house 
that  evening,  and  although  Harriet  was  shy,  and 
blushed  when  either  of  the  men  spoke  to  her,  the 
8 


H4  Senator  North 

deep  and  tragic  novelty  of  their  respectful  admiration 
finally  set  her  somewhat  at  her  ease,  and  she  talked 
under  her  breath  to  Emory  of  the  pleasurable  impres- 
sion Washington  had  made  on  her  rural  mind.  After 
dinner  she  went  with  him  to  the  library,  where  he 
showed  her  his  favorite  books,  and  advised  her  to  read 
them. 

"  Will  you  have  a  cigarette  ?  "  he  asked.  "  Betty 
accuses  me  of  being  old-fashioned,  but  I  am  modern 
enough  to  think  that  a  woman  and  a  cigarette  make  a 
charming  combination  :  she  looks  so  companionable." 

"  I  've  smoked  a  pipe,"  said  Harriet,  doubtfully ; 
"  but  I  Ve  never  tried  a  cigarette.  I  reckon  I  could, 
though." 

He  handed  her  a  cigarette,  and  she  smoked  with  the 
natural  grace  which  pervaded  all  her  movements.  She 
sank  back  in  the  deep  chair  she  had  chosen,  and  puffed 
out  the  smoke  indolently. 

"I  am  so  happy,"  she  said.  "I  reckoned  down 
there  that  the  world  was  beautiful  somewheres,  but  I 
never  expected  to  see  it.  And  it  is,  it  is.  Poor  old 
uncle  used  to  say  that  nothing  amounted  to  much 
when  you  got  it,  but  he  did  n't  know,  he  did  n't  know. 
This  room  is  so  big,  and  the  light  is  so  soft,  and  this 
chair  is  so  lazy,  and  the  fire  is  so  warm — "  She 
looked  at  Emory  with  the  first  impulse  of  coquetry  she 
had  ever  experienced ;  and  her  eyes  were  magnificent. 

"Are  you,  too,  happy?  "  she  asked  softly. 

He  stood  up  suddenly  and  gave  a  little  nervous 
laugh,  darting  an  embarrassed  glance  over  his  shoulder. 

"I  feel  uncommonly  better  than  usual,"  he  ad- 
mitted. 


Senator  North  115 


XVII 

BETTY  awoke  the  next  morning  with  the  impression 
that  she  was  somewhere  on  the  border  of  a  negro 
camp-meeting.  She  had  passed  more  than  one  when 
driving  in  the  country,  and  been  impressed  with  the 
religious  frenzy  for  which  the  human  voice  seemed  the 
best  possible  medium.  As  she  achieved  full  conscious- 
ness, she  understood  that  it  was  not  a  chorus  of  voices 
that  filled  her  ear,  but  one, — rich,  sonorous,  impas- 
sioned. It  was  singing  one  of  the  popular  Methodist 
hymns  with  a  fervor  which  not  even  its  typical  African 
drawl  and  wail  could  temper.  It  was  some  moments 
before  Betty  realized  that  the  singer  was  Harriet 
Walker,  and  then  she  sprang  out  of  bed  and  flung  on 
her  wrapper. 

"Great  heaven!"  she  thought.  "How  shall  we 
ever  be  able  to  keep  her  secret?  A  bandanna  gown 
and  a  voice  like  a  cornfield  darky's  !  I  suppose  all 
the  servants  are  listening  in  the  hall." 

They  were,  —  even  the  upper  servants,  who  were  Eng- 
lish, —  but  they  scuttled  away  as  their  mistress  appeared. 
She  crossed  the  hall  to  Harriet's  room,  rapped  loudly, 
and  entered.  Her  new  sister,  still  in  her  nightgown, 
was  enjoying  the  deep  motion  of  a  rocking-chair, 
hymn-book  in  hand.  She  brought  her  song  to  a  halt 
as  Betty  appeared,  but  it  was  some  seconds  before  the 
inspired  expression  in  her  eyes  gave  place  to  human 
greeting.  Her  face  happened  to  be  in  shadow,  and 
for  the  moment  Betty  saw  her  black.  Her  finely  cut 


1 1 6  Senator  North 

features  were  indistinct,  and  the  ignorant  fanaticism  of 
a  not  remote  grandmother  looked  from  her  eyes. 

"  Harriet !  "  exclaimed  Betty.  "  I  don't  want  to  be 
unkind,  but  you  must  not  do  that  again.  If  you  want 
to  keep  your  secret,  never  sing  a  hymn  again  as  long 
as  you  live." 

"  Ah  !  "  Harriet  gave  a  gasp,  then  a  half-sob.  "  Ah  ! 
But  I  love  to  sing  them,  honey.  I  have  sung  them 
every  Sunday  all  my  life,  and  he  loved  them.  He  said 
I  could  sing  with  anybody,  he  would  n't  except  angels. 
I  'most  felt  he  was  listening." 

"  You  have  a  magnificent  voice,  and  you  must  have 
it  cultivated.  But  never  sing  another  hymn." 

"  When  I  go  to  church  I  know  I  '11  just  shout  — 
without  knowing  what  I  'm  doing." 

"Then  don't  go  to  church,"  said  Betty,  desperately. 

"  I  must !  I  must !  What  '11  the  Lode  say  to  me  ? 
Oh,  my  po'  old  uncle  !  " 

She  was  weeping  like  a  passionate  child.  Betty  sat 
down  beside  her  and  took  her  hand. 

"  Come,"  she  said,  "listen  to  me.  The  first  time  I 
saw  you  the  deepest  impression  I  received  of  you  was 
one  of  fine  self-control.  Doubtless  you  wept  and 
stormed  a  good  deal  before  you  acquired  it  —  at  all 
the  different  stages  of  what  was  both  renunciation  and 
acquisition.  The  last  few  days  have  unsettled  you  a 
little  because  you  have  found  yourself  in  a  new  world, 
minus  all  your  old  responsibilities  and  trials,  and  the 
experience  has  made  you  feel  younger,  robbed  you  of 
some  of  your  hold  on  yourself.  But  that  habit  of  self- 
control  is  in  your  brain,  —  it  is  the  last  to  leave  us,  — 
and  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  sit  down  and  think  hard 
and  adjust  yourself.  It  is  even  more  important  that 


Senator  North  117 

you  make  no  mistakes  now  than  it  was  before.  Fate 
seldom  gives  any  one  two  chances  to  begin  life  over 
again.  Think  hard  and  keep  a  tight  rein  on  yourself." 

Betty  had  more  than  negro  hymns  in  her  mind,  but 
she  did  not  care  to  be  explicit.  The  generalities  of 
the  subject  were  disagreeable  enough. 

Harriet  had  ceased  her  sobbing  and  was  listening 
intently.  She  dried  her  eyes  as  Betty  finished 
speaking. 

"You  are  right,  honey,"  she  said.  "And  I  reckon 
you  have  n't  spoken  any  too  soon,  for  I  was  likely  to 
get  my  head  turned.  I  '11  go  to  church  and  I  worit 
sing.  First  I  '11  tie  a  string  round  my  neck  to  remem- 
ber, and  after  that  it  '11  be  easy.  I  'm  afraid  I  'm  just 
naturally  lazy,  and  if  I  did  n't  watch  myself  I  'd  soon 
forget  all  the  hard  lessons  I  've  learned  and  get  to  be 
like  some  fat  ornary  old  nigger  who 's  got  an  easy  job." 

Betty  shuddered.  "  The  white  race  is  not  devoid  of 
laziness.  If  you  want  a  reason  for  yours,  just  remember 
that  the  Southern  sun  has  prevented  many  a  man  from 
becoming  great.  Keep  your  mind  as  far  away  from 
the  other  thing  as  possible." 

"  Oh,  I  think  I  '11  forget  it.  I  felt  that  way  yester- 
day. But  perhaps  I  'd  better  not,"  she  added  anx- 
iously, as  her  glance  fell  on  the  hymn-book.  "  No  cross, 
no  crown." 

"  You  will  find  crosses  enough  as  you  go  through 
life,"  said  Betty,  dryly.  She  rose  to  go,  and  Harriet 
rose  also  and  drew  herself  up  to  her  full  height.  For 
the  moment  she  looked  again  the  tragic  figure  of  the 
first  day  of  their  acquaintance. 

"  You  must  have  seen  by  this  time  how  ignorant  I 
am,"  she  said  mournfully.  "  Poor  old  uncle  gave  me 


1 1 8  Senator  North 

all  the  schooling  he  had  himself,  but  I  knew  even  then 
it  was  n't  what  they  have  nowadays.  And  I  've  had  so 
few  books  to  read.  Once  I  found  a  five-dollar  bill, 
and  as  he  would  n't  take  it  —  the  most  I  could  do  — 
I  tramped  all  the  way  to  the  nearest  town  and  back, 
twenty  miles,  and  bought  a  big  basket  full  of  cheap 
reprints  of  English  standard  novels.  Those  and  the 
few  old  Latin  books  and  the  Bible  and  the  Pilgrim's 
Progress  are  about  all  I  've  ever  read.  I  felt  like  writing 
you  that  when  I  read  his  letter,  and  also  telling  you 
that  I  was  afraid  you  would  n't  find  me  a  lady  in  your 
sense  of  the  word  —  " 

"You  are  my  sister,"  interrupted  Betty;  "of  course 
you  are  a  lady.  Dismiss  any  other  idea  from  your 
mind.  And  in  a  year  you  will  know  so  much  that  I 
shall  be  afraid  of  you.  I  have  neglected  my  books  for 
several  years." 

"  You  are  mighty  good,  and  I  '11  humbly  take  all  the 
advice  you  '11  give  me." 

Betty  went  back  to  her  room  and  sought  the  warm 
nest  she  had  left.  "  She  makes  me  feel  old,"  she 
thought.  "Am  I  to  be  responsible  for  the  development 
of  her  character?  I  can't  send  her  off  to  Europe  yet. 
There  's  nothing  to  do  but  keep  her  for  at  least  a  year, 
until  she  knows  something  of  the  world  and  feels  at 
home  in  it.  Meanwhile  I  suppose  I  must  be  her  guide 
and  philosopher  !  I  believe  that  my  acquaintance  with 
Senator  North  has  made  me  feel  like  a  child.  He  is 
so  much  wiser  in  a  minute  than  I  could  be  in  a  life- 
time ;  and  as  I  have  made  him  the  pivot  on  which  the 
world  revolves,  no  wonder  I  feel  small  by  contrast. 

"  But  after  all,  I  am  twenty-seven,  and  what  is  more, 
I  have  seen  a  good  deal  of  men,"  she  added  abruptly. 


Senator  North  119 

And  in  a  moment  she  admitted  that  she  had  allowed 
her  heart,  full  of  the  youth  of  unrealities  and  dreams, 
to  act  independently  of  her  more  mature  intelligence. 

"  And  that  is  the  reason  I  have  been  so  happy,"  she 
mused.  "There  is  a  facer  for  the  intelligence.  As 
long  as  I  have  exercised  it  I  have  never  felt  as  if  I 
were  walking  on  air  and  song." 

But  still  her  imagination  did  not  wander  beyond  to- 
day's meeting  and  many  like  it.  He  was  married,  and, 
independent  as  she  was,  she  had  received  that  sound 
training  in  the  conventions  from  which  the  mind  never 
wholly  recovers.  She  registered  a  vow  then  and  there 
that  she  would  become  his  friend  of  friends,  the  woman 
to  whom  he  came  for  all  his  pleasant  hours,  in  time  his 
confidante.  She  would  devote  her  thought  to  the  mak- 
ing of  herself  into  the  companion  he  most  needed  and 
desired ;  and  she  would  conceal  her  love  lest  he  con- 
ceive it  his  duty  to  avoid  her.  She  wondered  if  she 
had  betrayed  herself,  and  concluded  that  she  had  not. 
Even  he  could  not  guess  how  much  of  her  admiration 
emanated  from  frankness  and  how  much  from  coquetry. 
She  would  be  careful  in  the  future. 

"That  point  settled,"  she  thought,  curling  down 
deeper  into  her  bed  and  preparing  for  a  nap,  "  I  '11 
anticipate  his  coming  and  think  about  him  with  all 
the  youthful  exuberance  I  please." 


XVIII 

BETTY  had  invited  Senator  Burleigh  to  dinner  on  Satur- 
day, that  he  might  feel  free  to  call  elsewhere  on  Sunday. 
At  four  o'clock,  when  Mrs.  Madison  had  retired  foi 


120  Senator  North 

her  nap,  she  commanded  Jack  Emory  to  take  Harriet 
for  a  long  walk  and  a  long  ride  on  the  cable  cars,  and 
to  stop  for  Sally  Carter.  No  one  else  was  likely  to  call, 
and  she  retired  to  her  boudoir,  a  three-cornered  room 
in  an  angle  between  the  parlor  and  library,  to  await 
Senator  North. 

The  boudoir  was  a  room  that  any  man  might  look 
forward  to  after  a  hard  day  on  Capitol  Hill.  Its  easy- 
chairs  were  very  soft  and  deep,  its  rugs  were  rosy 
and  delicate,  and  the  walls  and  windows  and  doors 
were  hung  with  one  of  those  old  French  silk  stuffs 
with  a  design  of  royal  conventionality  and  uniformly 
old  rose  in  color.  All  of  Betty's  own  books  were 
there,  her  piano,  several  handsome  pieces  of  carved 
oak,  and  a  unique  collection  of  ivory.  Betty  had 
banished  the  former  girlish  simplicity  of  this  room  a 
few  days  after  her  introduction  to  the  Montgomery 
house.  She  had  imagined  herself  greeting  Senator 
North  in  it  many  times,  and  had  received  no  other 
man  within  its  now  sacred  walls. 

She  wore  a  white  cloth  gown  to-day,  and  a  blue  rib- 
bon in  her  hair.  There  was  also  a  touch  of  blue  at  the 
neck,  to  make  her  throat  look  the  whiter.  Otherwise, 
the  long  closely  fitting  gown  was  without  ornament 
as  far  down  as  the  hem,  which  was  lightly  embroidered 
in  white.  She  looked  tall  and  lithe,  but  her  figure  was 
round,  and  did  not  sway  like  a  reed  that  a  strong  wind 
would  beat  to  the  ground,  as  Harriet's  did.  Although 
that  possible  descendant  of  African  kings  possessed 
the  black  splendor  of  eyes  and  hair  and  a  marble  regu- 
larity of  feature,  Betty  was  the  more  beautiful  woman 
of  the  two ;  for  her  color  filled  and  warmed  the  eye, 
she  seemed  typical  of  womanhood  in  its  highest  devel- 


Senator  North  121 

opment,  and  she  was  a  chosen  receptacle  of  enchant- 
ment. Moreover,  she  was  more  modern  and  original, 
and  as  healthy  as  had  been  the  fashion  for  the  past 
generation.  Harriet  looked  like  an  old  Roman  coin 
come  to  life,  with  a  blight  on  her  soul  and  little  blood 
in  her  thin  body.  It  was  not  in  Betty's  nature  to 
fear  any  woman,  much  less  to  experience  petty  jeal- 
ousy, but  it  was  not  without  satisfaction  she  reflected 
that  she  and  Harriet  would  hardly  attract  the  same 
sort  of  man.  Jack  was  doing  his  duty  nobly,  and  he 
liked  vivacious  women  who  amused  him,  poor  soul ! 
As  for  Senator  Burleigh,  he  had  said  politely  that  she 
was  handsome  but  looked  delicate,  and  then  unques- 
tionably dismissed  her  from  his  mind.  He  and  Betty 
had  talked  politics  on  the  previous  evening  until  Mrs. 
Madison  had  slipped  off  to  bed  an  hour  earlier  than 
usual. 

Betty  dismissed  them  all  from  her  mind  and  glanced 
at  the  clock.  It  was  half-past  four.  She  thrust  the 
poker  between  the  glowing  logs,  and  the  flames  leaped 
and  sent  a  quivering  glow  through  the  charming  room. 
Betty  leaned  back  in  her  chair  and  closed  her  eyes, 
almost  holding  her  breath  that  she  might  hear  the 
advancing  step  of  the  butler  the  sooner.  In  what 
seemed  to  her  exactly  thirty  minutes  she  looked  at  the 
clock  again.  It  was  twenty-five  minutes  to  five.  She 
nestled  down,  assuring  herself  that  nobody  could  be 
expected  to  come  on  the  moment,  but  this  time  she 
did  not  close  her  eyes ;  she  watched  the  clock. 

And  the  joy  imperceptibly  died  out  of  her;  the 
hands  travelled  inexorably  round  to  ten  minutes  to  five ; 
she  remembered  that  she  had  not  seen  Senator  North 
since  Wednesday,  and  that  in  four  days  a  busy  legis- 


122  Senator  North 

later  might  easily  forget  the  existence  of  every  woman 
he  knew,  except  perhaps  of  the  woman  he  loved. 
Within  her  seemed  to  rise  a  tide  of  bitter  memories, 
the  memories  of  all  those  women  who  had  sat  and 
waited  through  dreary  hours  for  man's  uncertain  com- 
ing. She  shivered  and  drew  close  to  the  fire  and 
covered  her  face  with  her  hands.  Her  heart  ached 
for  the  helpless  misery  of  her  sex. 

But  she  sprang  suddenly  to  her  feet.  The  butler 
was  coming  down  the  hall.  A  moment  later  he  had 
ushered  in  Senator  North,  and  Betty  forgot  the  misery 
of  the  world,  forgot  it  so  completely  that  there  was 
no  violent  reaction;  she  was  merely  what  she  had 
been  at  half-past  four,  full  of  pleasurable  excitement 
held  down  and  watched  over  by  the  instinct  of  caution. 

"  I  must  apologize  humbly  for  being  late,"  he  said, 
"  but  on  Sunday  I  always  sit  with  my  wife  until  she 
falls  asleep,  and  to-day  she  was  nearly  an  hour  later 
than  usual.  What  a  room  to  come  into  out  of  a  biting 
wind  !  Thank  heaven  I  was  able  to  get  here." 

Betty  thought  of  the  sister  and  cousin  she  had 
turned  out  into  the  cruel  afternoon,  then  looked  at 
Senator  North  deep  in  the  chair  where  she  had  so 
often  imagined  him,  and  forgot  their  existence.  This 
was  her  hour  —  her  first,  at  least  —  and  visions  of 
pneumonia  and  possible  consumption  should  not  mar 
it.  She  sat  opposite  him  in  a  straight  dark  high- 
backed  chair,  and  she  was  quite  aware  that  she  made 
a  delightful  picture. 

"Well?"  he  asked.  "What  of  your  visit  and  its 
consequences  ?  " 

Betty  told  the  story;  and  her  description  of  the 
dilapidated  parsonage  at  the  head  of  the  miserable 


Senator  North  123 

village,  the  group  of  silent  women  about  the  coffin  in 
the  dark  room,  and  her  interview  with  her  melancholy 
relative  was  as  dramatic  as  she  had  felt  at  the  time. 

"I  thought  I  was  running  from  a  nightmare  when 
I  left  the  house,"  she  concluded,  smiling  at  him  as  if 
to  demonstrate  that  it  had  left  no  shadow  in  her  brain ; 
"  but  now  we  both  feel  better.  She  wants  a  gown  of 
many  colors,  and  this  morning  she  roused  the  house 
at  five  o'clock  singing  camp-meeting  hymns.  But  I 
think  she  is  quick  and  observant,  and  will  soon  cease 
to  be  in  any  danger  of  betraying  herself.  But  she 
is  a  great  responsibility,  and  1  really  felt  old  this 
morning." 

Senator  North  laughed.  "  I  hope  she  won't  give 
you  any  real  trouble.  If  she  does,  I  shall  feel  more 
than  half  responsible.  But  otherwise  she  will  be  an 
interesting  study  for  you.  She  is  nearly  all  white; 
how  much  of  racial  lying,  and  slothfulness,  barbarism, 
and  general  incapacity  that  black  vein  of  hers  contains 
will  give  you  food  for  thought,  for  she  certainly  will 
reveal  herself  in  the  course  of  a  year." 

"  You  must  admit  that  a  nature  like  that  is  a  great 
responsibility." 

"  Yes,  but  she  alone  can  work  through  all  the  contra- 
dictions to  the  light,  and  she  will  do  it  naturally,  under 
pressure  of  new  experiences,  within  and  without. 
Don't  suggest  even  the  word  '  problem '  to  her,  and 
don't  look  upon  her  as  one,  yourself.  You  have  put 
her  in  the  right  conditions.  Leave  her  alone  and 
Time  will  do  the  rest.  His  work  is  indubious ;  never 
forget  that.  Are  you  going  to  marry  Burleigh  ? " 
he  added  abruptly. 

She  answered  vehemently,  "No  !  No  !  " 


I  24  Senator  North 


"  I  thought  not.  I  know  you  very  little,  so  far,  but 
I  was  willing  to  deny  the  report." 

"  I  often  wonder  why  I  don't  fall  in  love  with  him. 
He  really  has  every  quality  I  admire.  But  much  as 
I  like  him  I  should  not  mind  if  I  knew  I  never  should 
see  him  again.  I  have  thought  a  good  deal  about 
it  and  I  should  like  to  understand  it." 

She  looked  at  him  coaxingly,  and  he  smiled,  for  he 
understood  women  very  well ;  but  he  gave  her  the 
explanation  she  desired. 

"  The  reason  is  simple  enough.  The  admired  qual- 
ities, even  when  they  are  the  component  parts  of  a  per- 
sonality of  one  who  more  or  less  resembles  a  cherished 
ideal,  never  yet  inspired  love.  Love  is  the  result  of 
two  responsive  sparks  coming  within  each  other's  range 
of  action.  Their  owners  may  be  in  certain  ways 
unfitted  for  one  another,  but  the  responsive  sparks, 
rising  Nature  only  knows  out  of  what  combination 
of  elements,  fly  straight,  and  Reason  sulks.  To  put  it 
in  another  way  :  Love  is  merely  the  intuitive  faculty  rec- 
ognizing in  another  being  the  power  to  give  its  own  lord 
happiness.  It  is  a  faculty  that  is  very  active  in  some 
people,"  he  added  with  a  laugh,  "  and  when  it  is  over- 
worked it  often  goes  wrong,  like  any  other  machinery. 
That  is  the  reason  why  men  who  have  loved  many 
women  make  a  mistake  in  marrying ;  the  intuitive  fac- 
ulty is  both  dulled  and  coarsened  by  that  time.  They 
are  still  susceptible  to  charm,  and  that  is  about  all." 

"  Have  you  loved  many  women?  "  asked  Betty,  with- 
out preamble. 

He  stood  up  and  turned  his  back  to  the  fire. 
Betty  noted  again  how  squarely  he  planted  himself 
on  his  feet. 


Senator  North  125 

"  A  few,"  he  said  bluntly.  "  Not  many.  I  have 
not  overworked  my  intuitive  faculty,  if  that  is  what  you 
mean.  I  was  not  thinking  of  myself  when  I  spoke." 

He  stared  down  at  her  for  a  few  moments,  during 
which  it  seemed  to  Betty  that  the  air  vibrated  between 
them.  Her  breath  began  to  shorten,  and  she  dropped 
her  eyes,  lest  their  depths  reveal  the  spark  which  was 
active  enough  in  her. 

"  Will  you  play  for  me?  "  he  asked.  "  I  lost  a  little 
girl  a  few  years  ago  who  played  well,  although  she  was 
only  sixteen.  I  have  disliked  the  piano  ever  since,  but 
I  should  like  to  hear  you  play." 

She  played  to  him  for  an  hour,  with  tenderness,  pas- 
sion, and  brilliancy.  A  gift  had  been  cultivated  by  the 
best  masters  and  hours  of  patient  study. 

When  he  thanked  her  and  rose  to  go  and  she  put  her 
hand  in  his,  her  face  expressed  all  the  bright  earnest- 
ness of  genuine  friendship ;  there  was  not  a  sparkle  of 
coquetry  in  her  eyes. 

"  Will  you  come  in  often  on  your  way  home  when 
you  are  tired  and  would  like  to  forget  bills  and  things, 
and  let  me  play  to  you  ?  I  won't  talk  —  you  must  get 
so  tired  of  voices  !  —  and  the  practice  will  do  me 
good." 

"  Of  course  I  will  come.  The  pleasantest  thing  in 
life  is  a  charming  woman's  face  at  the  close  of  a  busy 
day.  Good-bye." 

When  he  had  gone,  Betty  got  into  the  depths  of  a 
chair  and  covered  her  eyes  with  her  hand.  For  the 
first  time  she  knew  out  of  her  own  experience  that  love 
means  a  greater  want  than  the  satisfaction  of  the  eye 
and  mind.  She  would  have  given  anything  but  her 
inherited  ideals  of  right  and  wrong  if  he  had  come 


126  Senator  North 

back  and  taken  her  in  his  arms  and  kissed  her ;  and 
she  loved  him  with  adoration  that  he  did  not,  that  in 
all  probability  he  never  would,  that  although  he  had 
the  great  passions  which  stimulate  all  great  brains,  the 
inflexible  honor  which  his  State  had  rewarded  and 
never  questioned  for  thirty-five  years  must  make  short 
work  of  struggles  with  the  ordinary  temptations  of 
man. 

As  soon  as  a  man  awakens  a  woman's  passions  she 
begins  to  idealize  him  and  there  is  no  limit  to  the  vir- 
tues he  will  be  made  to  carry.  But  let  a  man  be  en- 
dowed by  Nature  with  every  noble  and  elevated  attri- 
bute she  has  in  her  power  to  bestow,  if  he  lacks 
sensuality  a  woman  will  see  him  in  the  clear  cold  light 
of  reason.  Betty  Madison,  having  something  of  the 
intuitive  faculty,  in  addition  to  that  knowledge  of  man 
which  any  girl  of  twenty-seven  who  has  had  much  love 
offered  her  must  possess,  made  fewer  mistakes  even 
in  the  thick  of  a  throbbing  brain  than  most  women 
make ;  the  great  danger  she  did  not  foresee  until  time 
had  accustomed  her  somewhat  to  the  wonder  of  being 
able  to  love  at  last,  and  Reason  had  resumed  her  place 
in  a  singularly  clear  and  logical  mind. 


XIX 

WHEN  Betty  awoke  next  morning,  she  made  up  her 
mind  that  she  would  not  suffer  so  long  as  she  could 
see  him.  Beyond  the  present  she  absolutely  refused 
to  look.  She  had  found  more  on  the  political  sea 
than  she  had  gone  in  search  of,  but  if  she  could  have 


Senator  North  127 

foreseen  this  tumult  that  would  have  overwhelmed  a 
weaker  woman,  she  would  not  have  clung  to  the  shore. 
For  although  the  ultimate  of  love  was  forbidden  her,  she 
had  come  into  her  kingdom,  and  was  immeasurably 
happier  than  the  millions  of  women  whose  love  had 
run  its  course  and  turned  cold,  or  been  cast  back  at 
them.  After  all,  there  were  so  few  people  who  were 
really  happy,  why  should  she  complain  because  her 
love  could  not  come  to  rice  and  old  shoes,  instead  of 
being  a  beautiful  secret  thing,  the  more  perfect,  per- 
haps, because  Commonplace,  that  ogre  whose  girth 
increases  from  year  to  year,  and  who  sits  remorseless 
in  the  dwellings  of  the  united,  could  not  breathe 
upon  it? 

Harriet  had  returned  without  a  cold,  and  the  next 
morning  Emory  came  in  and  took  her  to  the  Congres- 
sional Library,  where  they  had  luncheon.  He  also  en- 
gaged her  masters,  and  before  the  week  was  over  she 
had  settled  down  to  steady  work. 

"  She  has  a  wonderful  mind,  I  am  positive  of  that," 
he  said  to  Betty.  "  She  has  made  so  much  out  of  so 
few  advantages.  I  shall  take  the  greatest  interest  in 
watching  a-  mind  like  that  unfold.  What  relation  is 
she  to  us,  anyway?  I  can't  make  out,  for  the  life  of 
me.  There  was  Cousin  Amelia  —  " 

"  For  heaven's  sake,  don't  ask  me  to  write  up  the 
genealogical  tree.  Did  n't  I  refuse  to  join  the  Colo- 
nial Dames  because  it  meant  raking  over  the  bones  of 
all  my  ancestors — whom  may  the  Saints  rest !  Most 
Southern  relationships  amount  to  no  relationship  at  all, 
and  Harriet's  is  too  insignificant  to  mention." 

"  Well,  I  must  say  it  is  angelic  in  you  to  take  her  in 
and  shower  blessings  on  her  in  this  way —  " 


128  Senator  North 

"  Her  father  had  a  great  claim  on  us,  but  that  is  a 
family  secret,  even  from  you.  Mind  you  take  her  to- 
morrow to  see  the  '  Declaration  of  Independence ' 
and  the  portrait  of  Hamilton." 

The  days  passed  very  quickly  to  the  end  of  the 
session.  It  was  the  short  term;  Congress  would 
adjourn  on  the  fourth  of  March.  Although  the  great 
official  receptions  were  over,  dinners  and  luncheons 
crowded  each  other  as  closely  as  before,  for  Washing- 
ton pays  little  attention  to  Lent  beyond  releasing  its 
weary  hostesses  from  weekly  reception  days,  and  their 
callers  from  an  absurd  and  antiquated  custom.  Betty 
went  frequently  to  the  gallery  on  Capitol  Hill,  and 
although  she  sometimes  was  bored  by  "  business,"  she 
seldom  heard  a  dull  speech,  for  the  intellectual  average 
of  the  Senate  is  very  high,  and  its  aptitude  and  the 
variety  of  its  information  unexcelled.  Harriet  accom- 
panied her  two  or  three  times,  but  her  mind  turned 
naturally  to  the  past  and  concerned  itself  little  with  the 
present.  She  found  the  history  of  the  Roman  Empire 
vastly  more  entertaining  than  debates  on  the  Arbitra- 
tion Treaty. 

Betty  had  recently  met  a  Mrs.  Fonda,  a  handsome 
widow  in  the  vague  thirties,  who  had  that  fascination 
of  manner  and  that  brilliant  talent  for  politics  which 
went  to  make  up  Miss  Madison's  ideal  of  the  women 
with  whom  tired  statesmen  spent  their  leisure  hours. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  a  former  distinguished  member 
of  the  House  and  the  widow  of  a  naval  officer,  and  her 
life  may  be  said  to  have  been  passed  in  Washington 
with  intervals  of  Europe.  Although  the  Old  Washing- 
tonians  knew  her  not,  her  position  in  the  kaleidoscope 
of  official  society  was  always  brilliant.  She  professed  to 


Senator  North  1 29 

have  no  party  politics,  but  to  be  profoundly  interested 
in  all  great  questions  affecting  the  nation.  During 
the  early  winter  she  had  visited  Cuba  and  had 
announced  upon  her  return  that  no  other  subject 
would  command  her  attention  until  the  United  States 
had  exterminated  Spanish  rule  in  that  unhappy  island. 
She  occupied  one  of  the  smaller  houses  in  Massachu- 
setts Avenue,  and  her  dining-room  seated  only  ten 
people  with  comfort.  Betty  had  heard  that  as  many 
as  nine  of  her  country's  chosen  men  had  sat  about 
that  board  at  the  same  time  and  decided  upon 
matters  of  state ;  and  she  envied  her  deeply.  As 
Mrs.  Fonda  lived  with  no  less  than  two  elderly  aunts 
who  wore  caps,  and  was  a  devout  member  of  St.  John's 
Church,  Mrs.  Madison,  with  a  sigh,  concluded  that  there 
was  no  reason  why  Betty  should  not  go  to  her  house. 

"  I  suppose  she  is  no  worse  than  the  rest,"  she 
added.  "  I  prefer  people  with  husbands,  but  the 
more  you  see  of  this  new  life  the  sooner  you  may 
get  tired  of  it." 

Mrs.  Fonda  paid  Betty  marked  attention  whenever 
they  happened  to  meet,  and  upon  the  last  occasion 
had  offered  playfully  to  tell  her  "  all  she  knew  "  about 
politics.  "They  are  engrossing,"  she  added  with  a 
sigh,  "  so  engrossing  that  they  have  taken  the  best  of 
my  years.  A  woman  should  be  married  and  happy,  I 
think,  but  I  have  become  quite  depersonalized.  And 
I  really  think  I  have  done  a  little  good.  You  will 
marry,  of  course ;  you  are  young  and  so  beautiful ;  but 
let  politics  be  your  second  great  interest.  You  will, 
indeed,  never  give  them  up  if  you  let  them  absorb  you 
for  one  year,  and  I  am  more  glad  than  I  can  say  that 
you  already  have  gone  so  far." 
9 


130  Senator  North 


She  then  invited  Betty  to  a  dinner  she  was  giving, 
and  even  made  an  appointment  for  an  hour's  "  talk  " 
beforehand ;  but  this  appointment  Betty  was  unable  to 
keep,  as  her  mother  fell  ill  for  a  day  or  two,  and  Mrs. 
Fonda's  hour  occurred  while  Mrs.  Madison  desired  to 
have  her  hand  held. 

Betty  went  to  the  dinner,  however,  and  expected 
brilliant  and  unusual  things.  Mrs.  Fonda,  who  was 
tall  and  dark  and  distinguished  looking,  and  too  wise 
in  her  unprotected  position  to  annul  the  attentions  of 
Time  with  those  artifices  which  are  rather  a  pity  but 
quite  condonable  in  the  married  woman,  was  hand- 
somely dressed  in  black  net  embroidered  with  gold, 
and  received  with  an  aunt  on  either  side  of  her.  Her 
manner  was  very  fine,  and,  without  any  relaxation  of 
the  dignity  which  was  an  integer  of  her  personality, 
she  made  each  comer  feel  the  guest  of  the  evening. 
To  Betty  she  was  almost  affectionate,  and  surrounded 
her  with  the  aunts,  who  looked  at  her  with  such  kindly 
and  cordial,  albeit  sadly  patient  eyes,  that  Betty  almost 
loved  them. 

The  dining-room  accommodated  twelve  to-night,  and 
two  were  not  the  aunts.  Betty  wondered  if  they  were 
picking  up  crumbs  in  the  pantry.  She  suspected  that 
Mrs.  Fonda  was  more  worldly  than  she  would  admit, 
and  that  ambition  and  love  of  admiration  had  some- 
what to  do  with  her  patriotism. 

There  were  four  members  of  the  Senate  present, 
two  wives  of  members  who  had  been  unable  to  come, 
and  three  eminent  Representatives.  It  was  seldom 
that  Mrs.  Fonda's  invitations  were  declined,  for  no 
man  went  to  her  house  with  the  miserable  conviction 
that  he  was  about  to  eat  his  twenty- seventh  dinner  by 


Senator  North  1 3 1 

the  same  cook.  Mrs.  Fonda  had  picked  up  a  woman 
in  Belgium  who  was  a  genius. 

Betty  went  in  with  Senator  Burleigh,  and  they 
examined  the  menu  together. 

"  By  Jove,"  he  said,  "  it 's  even  more  gorgeous  than 
usual.  And  did  you  ever  see  so  many  flowers  outside 
of  a  conservatory?  " 

The  room  was  a  bower  of  violets  and  lilies  of  the 
valley.  The  mantelpiece  was  obliterated,  the  table 
looked  like  a  garden,  and  great  bunches  of  the  flowers 
swung  from  the  ceiling.  As  what  could  be  seen  of  the 
room  was  green  and  gold,  the  effect  was  very  beautiful. 
The  lights  were  pink,  and  in  this  room  Mrs.  Fonda 
defied  Time  and  looked  so  wholly  attractive  that  it 
was  not  difficult  to  fancy  her  the  cause  of  another  war, 
albeit  not  its  Helen. 

But  much  to  Betty's  disappointment  the  conversation, 
which  was  always  general  when  that  radiant  hostess 
presided,  soon  wandered  from  the  suffering  Cuban  and 
fixed  itself  interminably  about  a  certain  measure  which 
had  been  agitating  Congress  for  the  last  four  years.  It 
was  a  measure  which  demanded  an  immense  appropria- 
tion, and  so  far  Senator  North  had  kept  it  from  passing 
the  upper  chamber ;  it  was  generally  understood  that  it 
would  fare  still  worse  at  the  hands  of  the  Speaker,  did 
it  ever  reach  the  House.  These  two  intractable  gentle- 
men had  evidently  not  been  bidden  to  the  feast ;  but 
three  of  the  Senators,  Betty  suddenly  observed,  were 
members  of  the  Select  Committee  for  the  measure 
under  discussion. 

Five  courses  had  come  and  gone,  and  still  the  con- 
versation raged  along  a  tiresome  bill  that  happened 
to  be  Betty's  pet  abomination,  the  only  subject  dis- 


132  Senator  North 

cussed  in  the  Senate  that  bored  her.  Mrs.  Fonda, 
in  the  brightest,  most  impersonal  way,  defended  the 
unpopular  measure,  pointing  out  the  immense  advan- 
tage the  country  at  large  must  derive  from  the  success 
of  the  bill,  and,  while  appealing  to  the  statesmen 
gathered  at  her  board  to  set  her  right  when  she  made 
mistakes,  —  she  could  n't  be  expected  to  keep  up  with 
every  bill  while  her  head  was  full  of  Cuba,  —  assailed 
the  weak  points  in  those  statesmen's  arguments. 

"  I  'm  bored  to  death,"  muttered  Betty,  finally.  "  I 
wish  I  hadn't  come.  You  won't  talk  to  me  and  I 
can't  eat  any  more." 

Burleigh  turned  to  her  at  once.  "  I  've  merely 
been  watching  her  game,"  he  whispered.  "Now, 
I  'm  nearly  sure." 

"What?"  asked  Betty,  interested  at  once. 

"She  has  given  a  dinner  a  week  this  winter,  and 
there  is  a  rumor  that  she  is  spending  the  money  of 
the  syndicate  interested  in  this  much  desired  appro- 
priation. Heretofore,  when  I  have  been  here,  at  least, 
although  she  has  always  graciously  permitted  the  sub- 
ject to  come  up  and  has  delivered  herself  of  a  few 
trenchant  and  memorable  remarks,  this  is  the  first 
time  she  has  deliberately  made  it  run  through  an 
entire  dinner;  every  attempt  to  turn  the  conversa- 
tion has  been  a  sham.  She's  in  the  ring  for  votes, 
there  's  no  further  doubt  in  my  mind  on  that  subject ; 
and  she 's  getting  desperate,  as  it  is  so  near  the  end 
of  the  session." 

"Then  she  is  a  lobbyist,"  said  Betty,  in  a  tone  of 
deep  disgust,  and  pushing  away  her  plate. 

"  'Sh  !  She  is  too  clever  to  have  got  herself  called 
that.  She  has  very  successfully  made  the  world  be- 


Senator  North  133 

lieve  that  the  great  game  alone  interests  her ;  there 
never  has  been  a  more  subtle  woman  in  Washington. 
During  the  last  two  years  there  has  been  one  of 
those  vague  rumors  going  about  that  she  has  lost 
heavily  through  certain  investments;  but  one  hasn't 
much  time  for  gossip  in  Washington,  and  it  is  only 
lately  that  this  other  rumor  has  been  in  the  wind. 
How  long  she  has  been  doing  this  sort  of  thing,  of 
course  no  one  knows." 

"But  do  you  mean  to  say  these  other  men  don't 
see  through  her?" 

"  More  than  one  does,  no  doubt.  If  he  is  against 
the  bill  he  will  be  amused,  as  I  am,  and  probably 
decline  her  invitations  in  the  future.  If  he  is  for  it  — 
and  there  is  a  good  deal  to  be  said  in  favor  of  the 
bill,  only  we  cannot  afford  the  appropriation  at  pres- 
ent—  he  will  make  her  think,  as  a  reward  for  her 
excellent  dinner,  that  she  has  secured  his  vote. 
Others  may  be  influenced  by  having  it  thrashed  out 
in  these  luxurious  surroundings,  so  different  from  the 
chill  simplicity  of  legislative  halls.  Those  that  she 
may  be  able  to  get  in  love  with  her,  of  course  will 
believe  nothing  that  is  said  of  her,  and  when  she 
travels  from  the  Committees  to  the  more  or  less  in- 
different members  of  both  chambers,  and  gets  to  work 
on  the  nonentities  whose  convictions  can  always  be 
readjusted  by  a  clever  and  pretty  woman,  —  and  whose 
vote  is  as  good  as  North's  or  Ward's,  —  you  see  just 
how  much  she  can  accomplish." 

"  And  if  I  have  my  salon,  shall  I  come  under  sus- 
picion of  being  a  high-class  lobbyist?" 

"  There  is  not  the  slightest  danger  if  you  are  careful 
to  have  only  first-rate  men,  and  avoid  the  temptation 


i  34  Senator  North 

to  make  a  pet  of  any  bill.  Besides,  as  I  have  told 
you,  your  position  peculiarly  fits  you  for  having  a 
salon.  No  one  could  question  your  motive  in  the 
beginning,  and  your  tact  would  protect  you  always. 
Don't  give  up  the  idea,  for  its  success  would  mean 
not  only  the  best  political  society  in  the  country,  but 
a  famous  salon  would  tend  to  draw  art  and  literature 
to  Washington.  And  you  are  just  the  one  woman  who 
could  make  it  famous ;  and  we  'd  all  help  you.  North 
would  be  sure  to,  his  ambition  for  Washington  is  so 
great.  He  won't  put  his  foot  in  this  house.  I  never 
heard  him  discuss  her,  but  I  am  convinced  that  he  has 
seen  through  her  for  a  long  while." 

The  next  day  Betty  left  a  card  on  Mrs.  Fonda  and 
struck  her  from  her  list;  but  she  carefully  secluded 
her  discovery  from  Mrs.  Madison. 


XX 

SENATOR  NORTH,  until  the  last  six  days  of  the  session, 
came  twice  a  week  to  see  her.  She  played  for  him, 
and  they  talked  on  many  subjects  in  which  they  dis- 
covered a  common  interest,  usually  avoiding  politics, 
of  which  he  might  reasonably  be  supposed  to  have 
enough  on  Capitol  Hill.  He  told  her  a  good  deal 
about  himself,  of  his  early  determination  to  go  into 
public  life,  the  interest  that  several  distinguished  men 
in  his  State  had  taken  in  him,  and  of  the  influence 
they  had  had  on  his  mind. 

"  They  were  almost  demi-gods  to  my  youthful  enthu- 
siasm," he  said,  "  and  doubtless  I  exaggerated  their 


Senator  North  135 

virtues,  estimable  as  is  the  record  they  have  left.  But 
the  ideals  this  conception  of  them  set  up  in  my  mind 
I  have  clung  to  as  closely  as  I  could,  and  what- 
ever the  trials  of  public  life  —  I  will  tell  you  more 
about  them  some  day  —  the  rewards  are  great  enough 
if  no  one  can  question  your  sense  of  public  duty,  if  no 
accusation  of  private  interest  or  ignoble  motive  has 
ever  been  able  to  stand  on  its  feet  after  the  usual 
nine  days'  babble." 

"  Would  you  sacrifice  yourself  absolutely  to  your 
country?"  asked  Betty,  who  kept  him  to  the  subject 
of  himself  as  long  as  she  could. 

He  laughed.  "  That  is  not  a  fair  question  to  ask 
any  man,  for  an  affirmative  makes  a  prig  of  him  and 
a  negative  a  mere  politician.  I  will  therefore  general- 
ize freely  and  tell  you  that  a  man  who  believes  himself 
to  be  a  statesman  considers  the  nation  first,  as  a 
matter  of  course.  Howard,  for  instance,  nearly  killed 
himself  at  the  end  of  last  session  over  a  measure  which 
was  of  great  national  importance.  He  should  have 
been  in  his  bed,  and  he  worked  day  and  night.  But 
although  it  was  touch  and  go  with  him  afterward,  it  was 
no  more  than  he  should  have  done,  for  almost  every- 
thing depends  on  the  Chairman  of  a  Committee ;  and 
as  Howard  is  a  man  of  enormous  personal  influence  and 
knows  more  about  the  subject  than  any  man  in  Con- 
gress, he  dared  not  resign  in  favor  of  any  one.  And 
yet  he  is  accused  of  being  hand-in-glove  with  one  of 
the  greatest  moneyed  interests  in  the  country." 

"  Is  he?"  asked  Betty,  pointedly. 

"Those  are  accusations  that  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  prove.  Howard  is  a  rich  man,  and  his  wealth  is 
derived  from  the  principal  industry  of  his  State,  which 


136  Senator  North 

is  unquestionably  monopolized  by  a  Trust.  It  would 
be  his  duty  to  look  after  it  in  Congress  in  any  case, 
as  it  is  his  State's  great  source  of  wealth ;  so  it  is  hard 
to  tell.  It  does  not  interfere  with  his  being  one  of 
the  ablest  legislators  and  hardest  workers  in  the  Senate 
—  and  over  matters  from  which  he  can  derive  no  pos- 
sible gain.  But  the  suspicion  will  lower  his  position 
in  the  history  of  the  Senate." 

"  Does  any  one  know  the  truth  about  the  Senate  ? 
Even  Bryce  says  it  is  impossible  to  get  at  it,  the  coun- 
try is  so  prone  to  exaggeration;  but  estimates  that 
one-fifth  of  the  Senate  is  corrupt." 

"  No  one  knows.  The  whole  point  is  this :  the  Senate 
is  the  worst  place  in  the  world  for  a  weak  man,  and 
there  are  weak  men  in  it.  A  Senatorship  is  the  high- 
est honor  to-day  in  the  gift  of  the  Republic,  therefore 
ambitious  men  strive  for  it.  A  man  no  sooner  achieves 
this  ambition  than  he  finds  himself  beset  by  many 
temptations.  He  is  tormented  by  lobbyists  who  will 
never  let  him  alone  until  he  has  proved  himself  to  be  a 
man  of  incorruptible  character  and  iron  will ;  and  that 
takes  time.  He  also  finds  that  the  Senate  is  a  sort 
of  aristocracy,  the  more  so  as  many  of  its  members 
are  rich  men  and  live  well.  If  he  never  wanted  money 
before,  he  wants  it  then,  and  if  he  does  not,  his  wife 
and  daughters  do.  Then,  if  he  is  weak,  he  finds  his 
way  into  the  pocket  of  some  Trust  Company  or  Rail- 
road Corporation,  and  his  desire  for  re-election  —  to 
retain  his  brilliant  position  —  multiplies  his  shackles; 
for  if  he  proves  himself  useful,  the  Trust  will  buy  his 
Legislature — if  it  happens  to  be  venal  —  and  keep 
him  in  his  place.  But  these  instances  I  know  must  be 
rare,  for  I  know  the  personal  character  of  every  man  in 


Senator  North  137 

the  Senate.  One  Senator  who  is  nearing  the  end  of  his 
first  term  told  me  the  other  day  that  he  should  not 
return,  for  his  experience  in  the  Senate  had  given  him 
such  a  keen  desire  to  be  a  rich  man  that  he  should  go 
into  Wall  Street  and  try  to  make  a  fortune.  He  is 
honest,  but  his  patriotism  is  a  poor  affair.  But  if  the 
Senate  makes  a  weak  man  weaker,  it  makes  a  strong 
man  stronger,  owing  to  the  very  temptations  he  must 
resist  from  the  day  he  enters,  the  compromises  he  is 
forced  to  make,  and  the  danger  to  his  convictions  from 
the  subtler  brains  of  older  men.  And  the  Senate  is 
full  of  strong  men.  But  they  don't  make  picturesque 
'  copy '  for  the  enterprising  press ;  the  weak  and  the 
corrupt  do,  and  so  much  space  is  given  them,  as  well 
as  so  much  attention  by  the  comic  weeklies,  —  which 
are  regarded  as  a  sort  of  current  history,  —  that  the 
average  man,  who  does  not  do  his  own  thinking, 
accepts  the  minority  as  the  type." 

He  talked  to  her  sometimes  about  his  family  life. 
His  wife  had  been  a  beautiful  and  accomplished  girl, 
the  daughter  of  a  Governor  of  his  State,  and  he  had 
married  her  when  he  was  twenty-four.  She  had  been 
a  great  help  to  him,  both  at  home  and  in  Washington, 
during  those  years  when  he  needed  help.  She  had 
not  broken  down  until  after  the  birth  of  his  daughter, 
but  that  was  twenty  years  ago,  and  she  had  been 
an  invalid  ever  since.  He  spoke  of  this  long  period 
of  imperfect  happiness  in  a  matter-of-fact  way,  and 
Betty  assumed  that  by  this  time  he  was  used  to  it. 
He  alluded  to  his  wife  once  as  "a  very  dear  old 
friend,"  but  Betty  guessed  that  she  was  nearly  obliter- 
ated from  his  life.  Of  his  sons  he  expected  great 
things,  but  the  larger  measure  of  his  affections  had 


'38 


Senator  North 


been  given  to  his  daughter,  or  it  seemed  so,  now  that 
he  had  lost  her. 

During  the  last  week  of  the  Session  she  saw  him 
from  the  Senate  Gallery  only,  but  she  consoled  herself 
by  admiring  the  cool  deliberation  with  which  he 
worked  his  bills  through,  with  Populists  thundering  on 
either  side  of  him. 


XXI 

ON  Thursday  she  not  only  witnessed  the  last  moments 
of  the  last  session  of  the  Fifty-fourth  Congress,  but  the 
initial  ceremonies  of  the  inauguration  of  a  President  of 
the  United  States.  She  had  seen  the  galleries  crowded 
before,  but  never  as  they  were  to-day.  Even  the  Di- 
plomatists' Gallery,  usually  empty,  was  full  of  women 
and  attache's,  and  the  very  steps  of  the  other  galleries 
were  set  thick  with  people.  Thousands  had  stood 
patiently  in  the  corridors  since  early  morning,  and 
thousands  stood  there  still,  or  wandered  about  looking 
at  the  statues  and  painted  walls.  The  Senators  were  all 
in  their  seats ;  most  of  them  would  gladly  have  been  in 
bed,  for  they  had  been  up  all  night ;  and  the  Ambas- 
sadors and  Envoys  were  brilliant  and  glittering  curves 
of  color :  the  effect  greatly  enhanced  by  the  Repub- 
lican simplicity  of  the  men  to  whose  country  they  were 
accredited.  The  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  in  their 
flowing  silk  gowns,  alone  reminded  the  spectator  that 
the  United  States  had  not  sprung  full-fledged  from 
Nothing,  without  traditions  and  without  precedent. 

What   little    is   left   of  form  in  the    Republic  was 
observed.     Two  Senators  and  one  Representative,  the 


Senator  North  139 

Committee  appointed  to  call  on  the  retiring  President, 
who  had  just  signed  his  last  bill  in  his  room  close  by, 
entered  and  announced  that  Mr.  Cleveland  had  no 
further  messages  for  the  Senate,  and  extended  his  con- 
gratulations to  both  Houses  of  Congress  upon  the  ter- 
mination of  their  labors.  The  United  States  had  been 
without  a  ruler  for  twenty  minutes  when  the  assistant 
doorkeeper  announced  the  Vice-President,  two  pages 
drew  back  the  doors,  and  Mr.  Hobart  entered  on  the 
arm  of  a  Senator  and  took  the  seat  on  the  dais  beside 
his  predecessor,  who  still  occupied  the  chair  of  the 
presiding  officer  of  the  Senate.  Then  there  was 
another  long  wait,  during  which  the  people  in  the 
galleries  gossiped  loudly  and  the  Senators  yawned. 
Finally  the  President  elect  and  the  ex- President,  after 
being  formally  announced,  entered  arm  in  arm.  Both 
looked  very  Republican  indeed,  especially  poor  Mr. 
Cleveland,  who  toiled  along  with  the  gout,  leaning 
what  he  could  of  his  massive  figure  upon  an  umbrella. 
The  women  stood  up,  and  with  one  accord  pronounced 
their  President-elect  as  good-looking  as  he  undoubtedly 
was  strong  and  amiable  and  firm  and  calm  and  pious. 
Mr.  Hobart  took  the  oath  of  office,  and  after  the 
necessary  speeches  and  the  proclamation  for  an  Extra 
Session,  the  new  Senators  were  sworn  in  by  the  new 
Vice-President,  and  Betty  wondered  how  any  man 
would  dare  to  break  so  solemn  an  oath. 

As  soon  as  the  move  began  toward  the  platform  out- 
side, Betty  escaped  through  the  crowd  and  went  home. 
As  she  drove  down  the  Avenue,  she  heard  the  stupen- 
dous shout  of  joy,  some  fifty  thousand  strong,  with 
which  the  American  public  ever  greets  its  new  Presi- 
dent and  the  consequent  show.  Be  he  Republican  or 


140  Senator  North 

Democrat,  it  is  all  one  for  the  day ;  he  is  an  excuse  to 
gather,  to  yell,  and  to  gaze. 

Betty  turned  her  head  and  caught  a  glimpse  of  a 
bareheaded  man  on  his  feet,  bowing  and  bowing  and 
bowing,  and  of  a  heavy  figure  with  its  hat  on  seated 
beside  him.  She  speculated  upon  the  sardonic  reflec- 
tions active  inside  of  that  hat. 

She  did  not  expect  to  see  Senator  North  for  at  least 
twenty-four  hours,  but  his  card  was  brought  to  her 
while  she  was  still  at  luncheon.  She  went  rapidly  to 
her  boudoir,  and  found  him  standing  with  his  overcoat 
on  and  his  hat  in  his  hand. 

Although  he  had  been  up  all  the  night  before  and 
had  not  had  his  full  measure  of  rest  for  a  week,  he 
looked  as  calm  as  usual,  and  there  was  not  a  hint  of 
fatigue  in  his  face  nor  of  disorder  in  his  dress. 

"  You  deserted  us  last  night,"  he  said,  smiling.  "  I 
thought  perhaps  you  would  sit  up  and  see  us  through." 

"  I  was  up  there  at  nine  this  morning  and  saw  the 
Senate  floor  littered  with  papers.  It  had  a  very  all- 
night  look.  Have  you  had  luncheon?  Won't  you 
come  in?" 

"  I  should  be  glad  to,  but  I  have  n't  time.  I  find  I 
must  go  North  to-night,  and  am  on  my  way  home  to  get 
a  few  hours'  rest.  I  wanted  to  thank  you  for  many 
pleasant  hours  —  in  this  room."  His  eyes  moved 
about  slowly  and  softened  somewhat.  It  is  not  im- 
probable that  he  would  have  liked  to  throw  himself 
among  the  cushions  of  the  divan  and  go  to  sleep. 

"  Well !  You  might  postpone  that  until  we  part  for 
life,"  said  Betty,  lightly.  "  You  forget  that  Congress 
will  convene  in  Extra  Session  on  the  fifteenth." 

"  Yes,  but  there  is  no  necessity  for  me  to  be  here 


Senator  North  141 


until  some  time  in  May  at  earliest.  The  principal 
object  of  the  Session  is  the  revision  of  the  Tariff,  and 
the  new  bill  originates  with  the  Ways  and  Means  Com- 
mittee. After  it  has  been  thrashed  out  in  the  House 
and  returned  to  the  Committee  for  amendments,  it  will 
be  referred  to  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Senate. 
All  that  takes  time.  I  am  not  a  member  of  the  Fi- 
nance Committee  this  term,  and  I  shall  not  return  until 
the  debate  opens  in  the  Senate.  As  to  the  Arbitration 
business,  Ward  will  look  after  that.  I  would  not  stir  if 
there  were  a  chance  of  the  Treaty  coming  back  to  the 
Senate  in  its  original  form,  but  there  is  not.  When 
Ward  telegraphs  me  I  shall  come  down  and  cast  my 
vote." 

His  long  speech  had  given  Betty  time  to  recover 
from  his  first  announcement,  and  her  eyes  were  full  of 
the  frank  earnestness  which  had  established  the  desired 
relation  between  herself  and  Senator  North. 

"  I  am  glad  you  are  going  to  have  a  rest,"  she  said ; 
"  that  is,  if  you  are." 

"  Oh,  it  is  work  that  sits  very  lightly  on  me,  and  is 
very  congenial :  I  am  going  to  do  all  I  can  to  allay 
this  war  fever  in  my  own  State.  It  is  not  too  late 
to  appeal  to  their  reason;  but  it  might  be  at  any 
moment." 

"  Well,  at  all  events,  you  go  to  the  bracing  climate 
of  the  North.  But  I  am  sorry  you  go  so  soon.  Mother 
cannot  stay  in  Washington  after  the  third  week  in  May. 
I  am  afraid  we  shall  not  meet  again  until  you  come  to 
the  Adirondacks." 

"  Ah,  the  Adirondacks  !  "  he  said.  "  Yes,  I  shall 
see  you  there.  Good-bye." 

He  did   not   smile.     There   were   times   when   he 


142  Senator  North 

seemed  to  turn  a  key  and  lock  up  his  features.  This 
was  one  of  them.  Betty  felt  as  if  she  were  looking  at 
a  mask  contrived  with  unusual  skill. 

He  shook  her  warmly  by  the  hand,  however.  "  I 
forgot  to  say  that  I  shall  be  in  Washington  off  and  on 
—  for  a  day  or  so.  My  wife  remains  here.  It  is  still 
too  cold  for  her  in  the  North.  Good-bye  again." 

He  left  her,  and  she  did  not  return  to  her  luncheon. 


XXII 

BETTY,  after  several  long  and  restless  nights,  decided 
that  she  was  not  equal  to  the  ordeal  of  sitting  down 
patiently  in  Washington  awaiting  the  rare  and  flying 
visits  of  Senator  North.  If  she  could  place  herself 
quite  beyond  the  possibility  of  seeing  him  before  the 
first  of  June,  she  could  get  through  the  intervening 
months  with  a  respectable  amount  of  endurance,  but 
not  otherwise.  Hers  was  not  the  nature  of  the  patient 
watcher,  the  humble  applicant  for  crumbs.  She  might 
put  up  with  slices  where  she  could  not  get  the  whole 
loaf,  but  her  head  lifted  itself  at  the  notion  of  crumbs. 
Her  heart  had  not  yet  begun  to  ache.  She  determined 
that  it  should  not  until  it  was  in  far  more  desperate 
straits  than  now.  When  Lady  Mary  Montgomery, 
who  was  tired  and  wanted  a  long  rest  before  Decem- 
ber, invited  her  to  go  to  California,  she  accepted  at 
once  ;  and,  a  week  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress, 
went  through  the  formality  of  obtaining  her  mother's 
consent. 


Senator  North  143 

"  Well,"  said  Mrs.  Madison,  philosophically,  "  I  have 
lost  you  for  three  months  at  a  time  before,  and  I  sup- 
pose I  can  stand  it  again.  I  think  you  need  a  change. 
You  've  been  nervous  lately,  and  you  're  thinner  than 
you  were.  As  long  as  you  don't  marry  I  can  resign 
myself  quite  gracefully  to  these  little  partings." 

"  You  're  a  dear,  Mollyanthus.  I  only  wish  you 
were  going  with  me,  but  I  '11  keep  a  journal  for  you 
and  post  it  every  night.  I  am  glad  you  do  not  dis- 
like Harriet.  Of  course  if  you  did  I  should  not  go, 
for  it  is  too  soon  to  turn  her  adrift." 

"  She  is  inoffensive  enough,  poor  soul,  and  so  deep 
in  her  books  that  I  should  not  know  she  was  in  the 
house  if  she  did  n't  come  to  the  table." 

"  Make  Jack  take  her  to  the  theatre  once  a  week. 
She  has  promised  me  that  she  will  go  for  a  walk  every 
day  with  Sally." 

"  Sally  says  she  is  convinced  Harriet  is  a  Roman 
empress  reborn,  and  may  astonish  Washington  at  any 
moment,"  said  Mrs.  Madison,  anxiously.  "Do  you 
believe  in  reincarnation?" 

"  I  don't  believe  or  disbelieve  anything  I  don't  un- 
derstand. We  none  of  us  can  even  guess  what  is 
latent  in  Harriet  —  for  the  matter  of  that  I  don't  know 
what  is  latent  in  myself.  I  can  only  suspect.  I  don't 
think  Harriet  will  ever  go  very  deep  into  herself;  she 
has  not  imagination  enough.  If  circumstances  are  not 
too  unfavorable,  she  may  slip  through  life  happy  and 
respected,  in  spite  of  her  tragic  appearance :  she  is 
so  slothful  by  nature,  so  much  more  susceptible  to 
good  influences  than  to  bad.  All  of  us  possess  every 
good  and  bad  instinct  in  the  whole  book  of  human 
nature,  but  few  of  us  have  imagination  enough  to 


144  Senator  North 


find  it  out.  And  the  less  we  know  of  ourselves  the 
better." 

"  Betty,  you  certainly  do  need  a  change.  You 
looked  tragic  yourself  as  you  said  that ;  and  if  you 
became  tragic  it  would  mean  something.  I  'm  afraid 
your  conscience  is  tormenting  you  about  Mr.  Burleigh, 
and  perhaps  I  did  not  do  right  in  asking  him  to  come 
to  the  Adirondacks ;  but  probably  he  would  have  come 
to  the  hotel,  anyhow  ;  and  if  I  did  have  to  lose  you  —  " 

"  You  '11  never  get  rid  of  me."  And  she  went  to 
her  room  to  consult  with  Le"ontine. 

The  night  before  she  left  Harriet  came  into  her 
room  and  said  timidly,  — 

"  Betty,  I  sometimes  wonder  if  you  have  told  Mr. 
Emory  the  truth  about  myself —  " 

"  Certainly  not.  Why  should  I  tell  Mr.  Emory  — 
or  anyone  else?  " 

"  Well,  he  is  so  kind  to  me  and  we  have  become 
such  friends,  I  thought  perhaps  you  would  think  he 
ought  to  know." 

"  That  is  pure  nonsense.  Do  you  suppose  I  tell  my 
friends  everything  I  know?  No  friend  is  so  close  as 
to  demand  to  know  more  than  you  choose  to  tell  him." 

"  All  right,  honey ;  but  I  am  always  afraid  he  will 
see  my  finger-nails  when  he  is  helping  me  with  my 
lessons  —  " 

"  He  is  very  near- sighted ;  and  I  doubt  if  anyone 
would  notice  those  faint  blue  marks  unless  they  were 
looking  for  them." 

"  Of  course  they  seem  the  most  conspicuous  things 
I  Ve  got,  to  me." 

"Are  you  happy  here,  Harriet?"  asked  Betty, 
gently. 


Senator  North  145 

Harriet  nodded  and  looked  at  her  benefactor  with 
glowing  eyes.  "  Oh,  yes,"  she  said.  "  Yes  —  yes.  It 
is  like  heaven,  in  spite  of  the  hard  work  they  make  me 
do.  I  'm  right  down  afraid  of  that  old  Frenchman,  and 
when  Professor  Morrow  shuts  his  eyes  and  groans, 
'Door  —  d-o-o-r,  Miss  Walker,  not  d-o-u-g-h,'  I  could 
cry.  But  I  'm  happy  all  the  same,  and  I  forgot  that 
for  a  whole  week." 

"  Well,  forget  it  altogether.  And  remember  to  have 
a  thin  travelling  dress  and  a  lot  of  summer  things  made. 
And  of  all  people  do  not  confide  in  Jack  Emory  or 
Sally  Carter  —  or  any  other  Southerner." 


Senator  North,  Miss  Betty  Madison,  and  several  other 
Characters  in  this  History  go  in  search  of  a  Moun- 
tain Lake  and  find  an  Ocean. 


I 


BETTY  never  denied  that  she  enjoyed  her  visit  to  Cali- 
fornia, despite  the  several  thousand  miles  between  the 
Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  coasts,  and  Senator  North's 
rooted  aversion  to  writing  letters.  She  received  exactly 
three  brief  epistles  from  him  in  almost  as  many  months, 
but  in  one  he  said  that  he  missed  her  even  in  the  North, 
in  another  that  Washington  was  not  Washington  with- 
out her,  and  in  the  third  that  he  looked  forward  with 
pleasure  to  the  cool  Adirondacks  and  herself.  And  a 
woman  can  live  on  less  than  that.  Betty  read  and 
re-read  these  simple  and  possibly  perfunctory  state- 
ments until  they  were  weighted  with  love. 

And  although  she  visited  all  the  wonders  of  the  most 
wonderful  State  in  the  Union,  and  was  deeply  grateful 
to  them,  they  never  pushed  the  man  from  the  forefront 
of  her  mind  for  a  moment.  The  egoism  of  love  re- 
duces scenery  to  a  setting  and  the  splendors  of  sunset 
to  a  background.  Betty  thought  of  him  by  day  and 
by  night,  in  company  and  in  solitude,  but  even  the 
agony  of  longing  to  which  her  imagination  sometimes 
rose  contained  no  heartbreak.  For  the  future  was  all 
over  there,  on  the  far  side  of  the  continent ;  its  grave- 
clothes  were  deep  under  lavender  and  rosemary.  To 
think  of  him  was  a  luxury  and  a  delight,  and  would 
remain  so  until  Imagination  had  been  pushed  aside  by 
the  contradictory  details  of  Reality.  Sometimes  she 
wept  pleasurably,  but  she  smiled  oftener.  And  still, 


150  Senator  North 

although  she  laid  no  reins  on  her  imagination,  she  re- 
fused to  look  beyond  the  summer  among  the  Adiron- 
dack pines,  the  frequent  and  more  frequent  hours  at  the 
close  of  busy  days.  If  pressed,  she  would  doubtless 
have  answered  that  she  must  bow  to  Circumstance,  but 
that  in  Thought  he  was  wholly  hers. 


II 

BETTY  reached  her  part  of  the  Adirondacks  late  at 
night.  There  were  two  miles  between  the  station  and 
the  house,  and  Jack  Emory  and  Sally  Carter  came  to 
meet  her.  They  told  her  the  recent  news  of  the  family 
as  the  horses  toiled  up  the  steep  road  cut  through  the 
dark  and  fragrant  forest. 

"  Aunt  is  unusually  well  and  seems  to  enjoy  inter- 
minable talks  with  Major  Carter,"  said  Emory. 
"  Harriet  is  very  much  improved ;  she  holds  herself 
regally  and  sometimes  has  a  color.  She  studied  until 
the  last  minute,  and  even  here  is  always  at  her  books. 
I  don't  say  she  has  n't  intervals  of  laziness,"  he  added 
with  a  laugh,  "  but  she  always  pulls  up ;  and  it  is  very 
creditable  of  her,  for  she  is  full  of  Southern  indolence. 
She  would  like  to  lie  in  the  sun  all  day  and  sleep,  I  am 
sure ;  although  she  won't  admit  it." 

"  Does  she  seem  any  happier  ?  She  had  suffered  too 
much  privation  to  have  become  really  happy  before  I 
left." 

"I  am  sure  she  is  —  "  Jack  began,  but  Sally  inter- 
rupted him. 

"  I  think  she  is  one  of  those  people  who  hardly  know 


Senator  North  151 

whether  they  are  happy  or  not.  She  seems  to  me  to  be 
in  a  sort  of  transition  state.  One  moment  she  will  be 
gay.  with  the  natural  gayety  of  a  girl,  and  the  next  she 
will  look  puzzled,  and  occasionally  tragic.  I  think 
there  must  be  a  big  love  affair  somewhere  in  her 
past." 

"  I  am  sure  there  is  nothing  of  the  sort.  Have  the 
Norths  come?" 

"  Mrs.  North  is  here,  and  the  Senator  brought  her, 
but  he  had  to  go  back ;  for  that  disgraceful  Tariff  bill 
still  hangs  on.  I  believe  we  are  to  pay  for  the  very  air 
we  breathe  :  a  Trust  company  has  bought  it  up.  Oh, 
by  the  way,  you  have  a  new  housekeeper;  "  and  both 
she  and  Emory  laughed. 

"  Do  you  mean  that  old  Mrs.  Sawyer  has  left  ?  She 
was  invaluable." 

"  Her  son  wanted  her  to  keep  house  for  him,  and  she 
secured  the  services  of  a  female  from  a  neighboring 
village.  Miss  Trumbull  is  forty- odd  and  unmarried. 
She  has  a  large  bony  face,  the  nondescript  coloring  of 
the  average  American,  and  a  colossal  vanity.  We 
amuse  ourselves  watching  her  smirk  as  she  passes  a 
looking-glass.  But  she  is  an  excellent  housekeeper,  and 
her  vanity  would  be  of  no  consequence  if  she  would 
keep  her  place.  The  day  we  arrived  she  hinted  broadly 
that  she  wanted  to  sit  at  table  with  us,  and  one  night 
when  John  was  ill  and  she  had  to  help  wait,  she  joined 
in  the  conversation.  She  's  a  good-natured  fool,  but  an 
objectionable  specimen  of  that  '  I  'm-as-good-as-you- 
are '  American.  I  Ve  been  waiting  for  you  to  come 
and  extinguish  her." 

"  I  certainly  shall  extinguish  her." 

"  She  victimizes  poor  Harriet,  whom  she  seems  to 


152  Senator  North 


think  more  on  her  level,"  said  Miss  Carter,  not  with- 
out unction. 

Betty  could  feel  her  face  flush.  "  The  sooner  she 
puts  that  idea  out  of  her  head  the  better,"  she  said 
coldly.  "  I  am  surprised  that  Harriet  permits  a  liberty 
of  that  sort." 

"  Harriet  lacks  pride,  my  dear,  in  spite  of  her  am- 
bition and  what  Nature  has  done  for  her  outside.  She 
is  curiously  contradictory.  But  that  lack  is  one  which 
persons  of  Miss  Trumbull's  sort  are  quick  to  detect 
and  turn  to  their  own  account.  Your  housekeeper's 
variety  of  pride  is  common  and  blatant,  and  demands 
to  be  fed,  one  way  or  another." 

Mrs.  Madison  had  not  retired  and  was  awaiting  her 
daughter  in  the  living-room.  Betty  found  the  house- 
hold an  apparently  happy  one.  The  Major  was  a 
courtly  gentleman  who  told  stories  of  the  war.  Harriet 
in  her  soft  black  mull  with  a  deep  color  in  her  cheeks 
looked  superb,  and  Betty  kissed  and  congratulated  her 
warmly ;  as  Senator  North  had  predicted,  the  physical 
repulsion  had  worn  away  long  since.  The  big  room 
with  its  matting  and  cane  divans  and  chairs,  heaped 
with  bright  cushions,  and  the  pungent  fire  in  the  deep 
chimney  —  for  the  evenings  were  still  cold  —  looked 
cosey  and  inviting ;  no  wonder  everybody  was  content. 
Even  Jack  looked  less  careworn  than  usual ;  doubtless 
the  pines,  as  ever,  had  routed  his  malaria.  Only 
Sally's  gayety  seemed  a  little  forced,  and  there  was 
an  occasional  snap  in  her  eye  and  dilation  of  her 
nostril. 

When  Betty  had  put  her  mother  to  bed  and  talked 
her  to  sleep,  she  went  to  her  own  room  and  opened 
the  window.  She  could  hear  the  lake  murmuring  at 


Senator  North  153 

the  foot  of  the  terrace,  the  everlasting  sighing  of  the 
pines  ;  but  it  was  very  dark  :  she  could  hardly  see  the 
grim  mountains  across  the  water.  Just  below  them 
was  a  triple  row  of  lights.  He  should  have  been 
behind  those  lights  and  he  was  not.  For  the  moment 
she  hated  politics. 

She  closed  the  window  and  wrote  the  following 
letter :  — 

DEAR  MR.  NORTH,  —  I  am  home,  you  see.  Don't 
reply  and  tell  me  that  the  Tariff  Bill  surrounds  you 
like  a  fortress  wall.  I  am  going  for  a  walk  at  five  o'clock 
on  Saturday  morning,  and  I  expect  to  meet  you  somewhere 
in  the  forest  above  the  north  end  of  the  lake.  You  can 
reach  it  by  the  path  on  your  side.  I  shall  row  there.  Do 
not  labor  over  an  excuse,  my  friend.  I  know  how  you 
hate  to  write  letters,  and  you  know  that  I  am  a  tyrant 
whose  orders  are  always  obeyed. 

BETTY  MADISON. 

"  That  should  not  worry  him,"  she  thought,  "  and  it 
should  bring  him." 


Ill 


As  soon  as  she  awoke  next  morning,  she  dressed  and 
went  downstairs.  A  woman  stood  in  the  lower  hall, 
and  from  Sally's  description  Betty  recognized  Miss 
Trumbull.  The  woman's  large  mouth  expanded  in  a 
smile,  which,  though  correct  enough,  betrayed  the 
self-satisfaction  which  pervaded  her  being.  She  was 
youngish-looking,  and  not  as  ugly  as  Miss  Carter's  bald 
description  had  implied. 


154  Senator  North 

"  Good-mornin',"  she  drawled.  "I  had  a  mind  to 
set  up  for  you  last  night,  but  I  was  tired.  You  like 
to  get  up  early,  don't  you?  It 's  just  six.  Miss  Walker 
and  Miss  Carter  don't  git  up  till  eight,  Mr.  Emory  till 
nine  fifteen,  and  your  ma  till  eleven.  The  Major 's 
uncertain.  But  I  'm  real  glad  you  like  gittin*  up 
early  —  " 

"Will  you  kindly  send  me  a  boy?"  interrupted 
Betty.  "I  wish  a  letter  taken  to  the  post-office." 

The  woman  came  forward  and  extended  her  hand. 
"  I  '11  give  it  to  him,"  she  said. 

"  Send  the  boy  to  me.  I  have  other  orders  to  give 
him." 

As  the  woman  turned  away,  Betty  thought  she  de- 
tected a  shade  of  disappointment  on  her  face.  "  Has 
she  that  most  detestable  vulgarity  of  her  class,  curi- 
osity?" she  thought.  "She  seems  to  have  observed 
the  family  very  closely." 

The  boy  came,  accompanied  by  Miss  Trumbull,  who 
made  a  slight  but  perceptible  effort  to  see  the  address 
of  the  letter  as  Betty  handed  it  to  him. 

"  Take  this  at  once  and  bring  me  back  a  dollar's 
worth  of  stamps ;  and  go  also  to  the  village  store  and 
bring  me  some  samples  of  worsted." 

She  thought  of  several  other  things  she  did  not 
want,  reflecting  that  she  must  in  the  future  herself 
take  to  the  post-office  such  letters  as  she  did  not  wish 
Miss  Trumbull  to  inspect  and  possibly  read.  The  boy 
went  his  way,  and  Betty  turned  to  the  housekeeper  and 
regarded  her  sharply. 

"  I  'm  afraid  you  '11  find  this  a  lonely  situation,"  she 
said.  "We  are  only  here  for  a  few  months  in  the 


Senator  North  155 

"  Well,  of  course  I  like  the  society  of  nice  people, 
but  I  guess  I  can  stand  it.  Poor  folks  can't  pick  and 
choose,  and  I  suppose  you  would  n't  mind  my  havin' 
a  friend  with  me  in  the  winter,  would  you  ?  " 

"  Certainly  not,"  said  Betty,  softening  a  little.  But 
she  did  not  like  the  woman,  who  was  not  frankly 
plebeian,  but  had  buttered  herself  over  with  a  coat  of 
third-rate  pretentiousness.  And  her  voice  and  method 
of  speech  were  irritating.  She  had  a  fat  inflection  and 
the  longest  drawl  Betty  had  ever  heard.  Upon  every 
fourth  or  fifth  word  she  prolonged  the  drawl,  and  ac- 
complished the  effect  of  smoothing  down  her  voice 
with  her  tongue.  Capable  as  she  might  be,  Betty 
wondered  if  she  could  stand  Miss  Trumbull  through 
the  summer.  But  the  position  was  a  very  difficult  one 
to  fill.  Even  an  old  couple  found  it  lonely,  and  a 
woman  with  a  daughter  never  had  been  permitted  to 
remain  for  two  consecutive  years.  If  the  woman 
could  be  kept  in  the  background,  it  might  be  worth 
while  to  give  her  a  trial. 

Betty  went  out  of  doors  and  down  to  the  lake.  It 
lay  in  the  cup  of  a  peak,  and  about  it  towered  higher 
peaks,  black  "with  pine  forests,  only  a  path  here  and 
there  cutting  their  primeval  gloom.  Betty  stepped 
into  a  boat  and  rowed  beyond  sight  of  her  house  and 
the  hotel.  Then  she  lay  down,  pushed  a  cushion 
under  her  head,  and  drifted.  It  had  been  a  favorite 
pastime  of  hers  since  childhood,  but  this  morning  her 
mind  for  the  first  time  opened  to  the  danger  of  a 
wild  and  brooding  solitude,  still  palpitating  with  the 
passions  which  had  given  it  birth,  for  those  whose 
own  were  awake. 

"  Civilization  does  wonders  for  us,"  she  said  aloud ; 


156 


Senator  North 


she  could  have  raised  her  voice  and  been  unheard, 
and  she  revelled  in  her  solitude.  "  It  makes  us  really 
believe  that  conventions  are  the  only  comfortable  con- 
ditions in  the  world,  certainly  indispensable.  Up 
here  —  " 

"  If  he  and  I  were  here  alone  for  one  week,"  she 
continued  uncompromisingly  and  aloud  to  the  moun- 
tains, "  the  world  would  cease  to  exist  as  far  as  we 
both  were  concerned.  And  I  wish  he  were  here  and 
the  Adirondacks  adrift  in  space  !  " 

She  sat  up  suddenly  after  this  wish ;  but  although 
it  had  flushed  her  face,  she  had  said  the  words  de- 
liberately and  made  no  haste  to  unsay  them.  She 
looked  ahead  to  the  north  end  of  the  lake  and  the 
dark  quiet  aisles  above.  And  when  she  met  him  there 
on  Saturday  morning,  she  must  hold  down  her  passion 
as  she  would  hold  down  a  mad  dog.  She  must  look 
with  bright  friendly  eyes  at  the  man  to  whose  arms  her 
imagination  had  given  her  unnumbered  times.  It 
seemed  to  her  that  she  was  an  independent  intellect 
caught  and  tangled  in  a  fish-net  of  traditions.  To 
violate  the  greatest  of  social  laws  was  abhorrent  to 
every  inherited  instinct.  Her  intellect  argued  that 
man  was  born  for  happiness  and  was  a  fool  to  put  it 
from  him.  The  social  laws  were  arbitrary  and  had 
their  roots  in  expediency  alone ;  man  and  his  needs 
were  made  before  the  community.  But  the  laws  had 
been  made  long  before  her  time,  and  they  were  bone 
of  her  bone. 

She  knew  that  he  would  not  be  the  one  to  break 
down  the  barrier,  that  he  would  leave  her  if  she 
manifested  uncontrollable  weakness,  —  not  from  the 
highest  motives  only,  but  because  he  had  long  since 


Senator  North  157 

ceased  to  court  ruin  by  folly ;  his  self-control  was 
many  years  older  than  herself.  Doubtless  he  would 
never  betray  himself  to  her,  no  matter  how  much  he 
might  love  her,  unless  she  so  tempted  him  that  passion 
leaped  above  reason.  And  she  knew  that  this  was 
possible.  There  was  no  mistaking  the  temperament  of 
the  man.  He  was  virile  and  sensual,  but  he  had 
ordered  that  his  passions  should  be  the  subjects  of  his 
brain;  and  so  no  doubt  they  were. 

Betty  had  no  intention  of  forcing  any  such  crisis, 
often  as  she  might  toy  with  the  idea  in  her  mind. 
But  for  the  first  time  she  compelled  herself  to  look 
beyond  the  present,  beyond  the  time  when  she  could 
no  longer  sit  in  her  boudoir  and  play  to  him,  and 
shake  him  lightly  by  the  hand  as  he  left  her.  Perhaps 
she  could  not  even  get  through  this  summer  without 
betraying  the  flood  that  shook  her  nerves.  If  the 
barriers  went  down  she  must  look  into  what?  She 
gave  her  insight  its  liberty,  and  turned  white.  It 
seemed  to  her  that  the  lake  and  the  forest  disappeared 
and  a  blank  wall  surrounded  her.  She  lay  down  in  the 
boat  and  pressed  the  corner  of  the  cushion  against  her 
eyes.  A  thousand  voices  in  her  soul,  for  generations 
dumb  and  forgotten,  seemed  to  awake  and  describe  the 
agony  of  women,  an  agony  which  survived  the  mortal 
part  that  gave  it  expression,  to  live  again  and  again  in 
unwary  hearts. 

She  sat  up  suddenly  and  took  hold  of  the  oars. 
"  That  will  do  for  this  morning,"  she  said.  "  It  is  so 
true  that  none  of  us  can  stand  more  than  just  so  much 
intensity  that  I  suppose  if  this  dear  dream  of  mine 
went  to  pieces  I  should  have  intervals  when  life  would 
seem  brilliant  by  contrast  with  my  misery.  I  might 


158  Senator  North 

even  find  mental  rest  in  pouring  tea  again  for  attache's. 
And  there  is  always  the  pleasure  of  assuaging  hunger. 
I  am  ravenous." 


IV 


AFTER  breakfast  —  an  almost  hilarious  meal,  for  Emory 
and  Sally  Carter  were  in  the  highest  spirits  and  sparred 
with  much  vigor  —  Betty  and  Harriet  went  for  a  walk. 
There  was  a  long  level  path  about  the  lake  for  a  mile 
or  more  before  they  turned  into  the  forest,  and  Betty 
noted  that  Harriet,  although  her  gait  still  betrayed 
indolence,  held  herself  with  an  air  of  unmistakable 
pride.  She  had  improved  in  other  respects;  her 
arrangement  of  dress  and  hair  no  longer  looked  rural, 
she  not  only  had  ceased  to  bite  her  nails,  but  had 
put  them  in  vivid  order,  and  the  pronunciation  of  her 
words  was  wholly  white. 

"She  will  be  a  social  success  one  of  these  days," 
thought  Betty,  "  or  with  that  voice  and  beauty  she 
could  doubtless  win  fame  and  wealth,  and  have  a 
brilliant  and  enjoyable  life.  The  tug  will  come  when 
she  wants  to  marry;  but  perhaps  she  won't  want  to 
for  a  long  while  —  or  will  fall  in  love  with  a  foreigner 
who  won't  mind." 

She  longed  to  ask  Harriet  if  she  were  happy,  if  she 
had  forgotten ;  but  she  dreaded  reviving  a  distasteful 
subject.  She  would  be  glad  never  to  hear  it  alluded  to 
again. 

Harriet  did  not  allude  to  it.  She  talked  of  her 
studies,  of  the  many  pleasures  she  had  found  in  Wash- 


Senator  North  159 

ington,  of  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Emory  and  Sally  Carter, 
and  of  her  delight  to  see  Betty  again.  As  she  talked, 
Betty  decided  that  the  change  in  her  went  below  the 
surface.  She  had  regained  all  the  self-control  that  her 
sudden  change  of  circumstances  had  threatened,  and 
something  more.  It  was  not  hardness,  nor  was  it 
exactly  coldness.  It  was  rather  a  studied  aloofness. 
"  Has  she  decided  to  shut  herself  up  within  herself?  " 
thought  Betty.  "  Does  she  think  that  will  make  life 
easier  for  her?" 

Aloud  she  said,  — 

"  Would  not  you  like  to  go  to  Europe  for  a  year  or  so  ? 
I  could  easily  find  a  chaperon,  and  you  would  enjoy  it." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  shall  enjoy  it.  I  feel  as  if  I  held  the 
world  in  the  hollow  of  my  hand,  now  that  I  have  got 
used  to  gratifying  every  wish ;  "  and  she  threw  back  her 
head  and  dilated  her  nostril. 

"What  have  I  launched  upon  the  world?"  thought 
Betty.  "  She  certainly  will  even  with  Fate  in  some 
way."  But  she  said,  "  I  am  glad  you  and  Sally  get  on 
well.  She  has  her  peculiarities." 

"  1  reckon  I  could  get  on  with  any  one ;  but  she 
doesn't  like  me,  all  the  same." 

"  Are  you  sure  ?     Why  should  n't  she  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  Miss  Walker,  dryly. 
"  Women  don't  always  understand  each  other." 

Sally's  name  suggested  the  housekeeper  to  Betty. 

"  I  don't  want  you  to  be  offended  with  me,  Harriet," 
she  said  hesitatingly,  "  if  I  ask  you  not  to  be  familiar 
with  Miss  Trumbull.  You  have  not  had  the  experience 
with  that  type  that  I  have  had.  You  cannot  give  them 
an  inch.  If  you  treat  them  consistently  as  upper  ser- 
vants when  they  are  in  your  employ,  and  ignore  them 


160  Senator  North 

if  they  are  not,  they  will  keep  their  place  and  give  you 
no  annoyance;  but  treat  them  with  something  more 
than  common  decency  and  they  leap  at  once  for 
equality." 

"  Well  —  you  must  remember  that  I  was  not  always 
so  fine  as  I  am  now,  and  Miss  Trumbull  does  not  seem 
so  much  of  an  inferior  to  me  as  she  does  to  you.  To 
tell  you  the  truth,  it  does  me  good  to  come  down  off 
my  high  horse  occasionally.  I  reckon  I  '11  get  over 
that;  sometimes  I  want  to  so  hard  I  could  step  on 
everybody  that  is  common  and  second-class.  I  don't 
deny  I  'm  as  ambitious  as  I  reckon  I  've  got  a  right  to 
be,  but  old  habits  are  strong,  and  I  'm  lazy,  and  it's 
lonesome  up  here.  Your  mother  and  Major  Carter 
talk  from  morning  till  night  about  the  South  before  the 
War.  Mr.  Emory  and  Sally  are  always  together,  and 
talk  so  much  about  things  I  don't  understand  that  I 
feel  in  the  way.  Miss  Trumbull  knows  the  private 
affairs  of  most  every  one  in  her  village,  and  amuses 
me  with  her  gossip ;  that  is  all." 

Betty  pricked  up  her  ears  at  one  of  Harriet's  revela- 
tion, and  let  the  painful  fact  of  her  hospitality  for  vul- 
gar gossip  pass  unnoticed. 

"  Do  you  mean,"  she  asked,  "  do  you  think  that 
Mr.  Emory  is  beginning  to  care  for  Sally?  " 

"  One  can  never  be  sure.  I  am  certain  he  likes  and 
admires  her." 

"  Oh,  yes,  he  always  has  done  that.  But  I  wish  he 
would  fall  in  love  with  her.  I  am  nearly  sure  that  she 
more  than  likes  him." 

"  I  am  quite  sure,"  said  Harriet,  dryly.  "  She  would 
marry  him  about  as  quickly  as  he  asked  her.  I  knew 
that  the  first  time  I  saw  them  together." 


Senator  North  161 

"And  she  certainly  would  make  him  happy,"  said 
Betty,  thinking  aloud.  "  She  is  so  bright  and  amusing 
and  cheerful.  She  is  the  only  person  I  know  who  can 
always  make  him  laugh,  and  the  more  he  laughs  the 
better  it  is  for  him,  poor  old  chap  !  And  I  think  he 
is  too  old  now  for  the  nonsense  of  ruining  his  happi- 
ness because  a  woman  has  more  money  —  Harriet !  " 

Harriet  had  one  of  those  mouths  that  look  small  in 
repose,  but  widen  surprisingly  with  laughter.  Betty, 
who  had  only  seen  her  smile  slightly  at  rare  intervals, 
happened  to  glance  up.  Harriet's  mouth  had  stretched 
itself  into  a  grin  revealing  nearly  every  tooth  in  her 
head.  And  it  was  the  fatuous  grin  of  the  negro,  and 
again  Betty  saw  her  black.  She  gasped  and  covered 
her  face  with  her  hands. 

"Oh,  never  do  that  again,"  she  said  sharply. 
"  Never  laugh  again  as  long  as  you  live.  Oh,  poor 
girl !  poor  girl  !  " 

"  I  won't  ask  you  what  you  mean,"  said  Harriet,  hur- 
riedly. "I  reckon  I  can  guess.  Thank  you  for  one 
more  kindness." 

And  the  horror  of  that  grin  remained  so  long  with 
Betty  that  it  was  some  time  before  she  thought  to  won- 
der what  had  caused  it. 


BETTY  amused  herself  for  the  next  day  or  two  observ- 
ing Jack  Emory  and  Sally  Carter.  They  unquestionably 
enjoyed  each  other's  society,  and  Sally  at  times  looked 
almost  pretty  again.  But  at  the  end  of  the  second 
day  Miss  Madison  shook  her  head. 

ii 


1 62  Senator  North 

"  He  is  not  in  love,"  she  thought.  "  It  does  not 
affect  him  in  that  way."  And  she  felt  more  satisfaction 
in  her  discovery  than  she  would  have  anticipated.  A 
woman  would  have  a  man  go  through  life  with  only  a 
skull  cap  where  his  surrendered  scalp  had  been.  To 
grow  another  is  an  insult  to  her  power  and  pains  her 
vanity. 

It  occurred  to  Betty  that  she  was  not  the  only  obser- 
vant person  in  the  house.  She  seemed  always  stum- 
bling over  Miss  Trumbull,  who  did  not  appear  to  listen 
at  doors  but  was  usually  as  closely  within  ear-shot  as 
she  could  get.  It  was  idle  to  suppose  that  the  woman 
had  any  malignant  motive  in  that  well-conducted  house- 
hold, and  she  seemed  to  be  good-natured  and  even 
kindly.  Interest  in  other  people's  affairs  was  evidently, 
save  vanity,  her  strongest  passion.  It  was  the  natural 
result  of  an  empty  life  and  a  common  mind.  But 
simple  or  not,  it  was  objectionable. 

Her  vanity,  her  mistress  had  cause  to  discover,  was 
more  so.  On  Wednesday  morning  Betty  returned 
home  from  a  long  tramp,  earlier  than  was  her  habit, 
and  went  to  her  room.  Miss  Trumbull  was  standing 
before  the  mirror  trying  on  one  of  her  hats. 

"  That 's  real  becomhY  to  me,"  she  drawled,  as  Miss 
Madison  entered  the  room.  "I  always  could  wear 
a  hat  turned  up  on  one  side,  and  most  of  your  colors 
would  suit  me." 

Betty  controlled  her  temper,  but  the  effort  hurt  her. 
She  would  have  liked  to  pour  her  scorn  all  over  the 
creature. 

"You  may  have  the  hat,"  she  said.  "Only  do  me 
the  favor  not  to  enter  my  room  again  unless  I  send  for 
you.  The  maid  is  very  neat,  and  it  needs  no  inspection." 


Senator  North  163 

The  woman's  face  turned  a  dark  red.  "  I*  m  sorry 
you  're  mad,"  she  said,  "  but  there  's  no  harm,  as  I  can 
see,  in  tryin'  on  a  hat." 

"It  is  a  matter  of  personal  taste,  not  of  right 
or  wrong.  I  particularly  dislike  having  my  things 
touched." 

"  Oh,  of  course  I  won't,  then  ;  but  I  like  nice  things, 
and  I  have  n't  seen  too  many  of  them." 

Again  Betty  relented.  "I  will  leave  you  a  good 
many  at  the  end  of  the  summer,"  she  said.  And  the 
woman  thanked  her  very  nicely  and  went  away. 

"I  am  glad  I  was  not  brutal  to  her,"  thought  Betty. 
"  Democracy  is  a  great  institution  in  spite  of  its  nui- 
sances. Still,  I  admire  Hamilton  more  than  Jefferson." 

When,  that  night,  Mrs.  Madison  had  a  painful 
seizure,  and  Miss  Trumbull  was  sympathetic  and  effi- 
cient, sacrificing  every  hour  of  her  night's  rest,  Betty 
was  doubly  thankful  that  she  had  not  been  brutal.  In 
the  morning  she  gave  her  a  wrap  that  matched  the  hat. 
Miss  Trumbull  tried  it  on  at  once,  and  revolved  three 
times  before  the  mirror,  then  strutted  off  with  such  evi- 
dent delight  in  her  stylish  appearance  that  Betty's 
smile  was  almost  sympathetic.  But  she  dared  not  be 
more  gracious,  and  Miss  Trumbull  only  approached 
her  when  it  was  necessary. 

On  Thursday  afternoon  Betty  and  Sally  were  rowing 
on  the  lake  when  the  latter  said  abruptly,  — 

"  Have  you  noticed  anything  between  Jack  and 
Harriet?" 

Betty  nearly  dropped  her  oars.  "  What  —  Jack  and 
Harriet?" 

Sally  nodded.  Her  mouth  was  set.  There  was  an 
angry  sparkle  in  her  eyes.  "  Yes,  yes.  They  pretend 


164  Senator  North 

to  avoid  each  other,  but  they  are  in  love  or  I  never  saw 
two  people  in  love.  I  suspected  it  in  Washington,  but 
I  have  become  sure  of  it  up  here.  What  is  the  matter  ? 
I  don't  think  she  is  his  equal,  if  she  is  our  thirty-first 
cousin,  for  I  would  bet  my  last  dollar  there  was  a  mis- 
alliance somewhere  —  but  you  look  almost  horror- 
struck." 

"  I  was,  but  I  can't  tell  you  why.  I  don't  believe 
it 's  true,  though.  She  is  not  Jack's  style.  She  has  n't 
a  grain  of  humor  in  her." 

"  When  a  man's  imagination  is  captured  by  a  beauty 
as  perfect  as  that,  he  does  n't  discover  that  it  is  with- 
out humor  till  he  has  married  it.  Besides,  any  man 
can  fall  in  love  with  any  woman ;  I  'm  convinced  of 
that.  You  might  as  well  try  to  turn  this  lake  upside 
down  as  to  mate  types." 

"  I  don't  think  she  would  deceive  me,"  exclaimed 
Betty,  hopefully.  "  I  cannot  tell  you  all,  but  I  am 
nearly  sure  she  would  never  do  that." 

"Any  woman  who  has  a  secret  constantly  on  her 
mind  is  bound  to  become  secretive,  not  to  say  deceitful 
in  other  ways.  What  is  her  secret?"  she  asked 
abruptly.  "  Has  she  negro  blood  in  her  veins?  " 

"  Oh,  Sally !  "  This  time  Betty  did  drop  the  oars, 
and  her  face  was  scarlet  as  she  lunged  after  them. 
She  was  furious  at  having  betrayed  Harriet's  secret,  but 
Sally  Carter  had  a  fashion  of  going  straight  for  the 
truth  and  getting  it. 

"  I  thought  so,"  said  Miss  Carter,  dryly.  "  Don't  take 
the  trouble  to  deny  it.  And  don't  think  for  a  moment, 
Betty  dear,  that  I  am  going  to  embarrass  you  with 
further  questions.  I  could  never  imagine  you  actu- 
ated by  any  but  the  highest  motives.  I  should  con- 


Senator  North  1 65 

sider  the  whole  thing  none  of  my  business  if  it  were 
not  for  Jack.  Faugh  !  how  he  would  hate  her  if  he 
knew ! " 

"  I  am  afraid  he  would.  I  don't  believe  he  is  man 
enough  to  love  her  better  for  her  miserable  inheritance." 

"  He  is  a  Southern  gentleman ;  I  should  hope  he 
would  not.  I  am  by  no  means  without  sympathy  for 
her.  I  pity  her  deeply,  and  have  ever  since  I  dis- 
covered that  she  loved  him.  For  he  must  be  told." 

"Shall  you  tell  him?" 

Sally  did  not  answer  for  a  moment,  and  her  face 
flushed  deeply.  Then  she  said  unsteadily  :  "  No ;  for  I 
could  not  be  sure  of  my  motive.  Here  is  my  secret. 
I  have  loved  Jack  Emory  ever  since  I  can  remember. 
It  is  impossible  for  me  to  assure  myself  that  I  would 
consider  interference  in  their  affairs  warrantable  if  I 
cared  nothing  for  him.  I  cannot  afford  to  despise 
myself  for  tattling  out  of  petty  jealousy.  But  you  are 
responsible  for  her.  You  should  tell  him." 

"  I  will  speak  to  her  as  soon  as  we  go  back.  If  it  is 
true  that  they  are  engaged,  and  if  she  refuses  to  tell 
him,  I  shall.  But  I  'd  almost  rather  come  out  here  and 
drown  myself." 

"So  should  I." 

"  You  're  a  brick,  Sally,  and  I  wish  to  heaven  you 
were  going  to  marry  Jack  to-morrow.  That  would  be 
a  really  happy  marriage." 

"  So  I  have  thought  for  years  !  When  he  got  over 
his  attack  of  you,  I  began  to  hope,  although  I  'd  got 
wrinkles  crying  about  him.  I  never  thought  of  any 
other  woman  in  the  case."  She  laughed,  with  a  defiant 
attempt  to  recover  her  old  spirits.  "And  I  cannot 
have  the  happiness  of  seeing  him  one  day  in  bronze, 


1 66  Senator  North 

and  feeling  that  he  is  all  mine  !  For  he  has  n't  even 
that  spark  of  luck  which  so  often  passes  for  infinitesi- 
mal greatness,  poor  dear  ! " 

"How  did  you  guess  that  she  had  the  taint  in  her?" 
asked  Betty,  as  they  were  about  to  land.  "  She  has 
not  a  suggestion  of  it  in  her  face." 

"  I  felt  it.  So  vaguely  that  I  scarcely  put  it  in  words 
to  myself  until  lately.  And  I  never  saw  such  an  amount 
of  pink  on  finger-nails  in  my  life." 


VI 


BETTY  went  in  search  of  Harriet,  and  found  her  in  a 
summer-house  reading  an  innocuous  French  romance 
which  her  professor  had  selected.  There  was  no 
place  near  by  where  Miss  Trumbull  might  lie  con- 
cealed, and  Betty  went  to  the  point  at  once. 

"Harriet,"  she  said,  "I  am  obliged  to  say  some- 
thing horribly  painful  —  if  you  want  to  marry  any  man 
you  must  tell  him  the  truth.  It  would  be  a  crime 
not  to.  The  prejudices  of — of — Southerners  are 
deep  and  bitter;  and  —  and —  Oh,  it  is  a  terrible 
thing  to  have  to  say  —  but  I  must  —  if  you  had  chil- 
dren they  might  be  black." 

For  a  moment  Betty  thought  that  Harriet  was  dead, 
she  turned  so  gray  and  her  gaze  was  so  fixed.  But 
she  spoke  in  a  moment. 

"  Why  do  you  say  this  to  me  —  now? " 

"  Because  I  fear  you  and  Jack  —  Oh,  I  hope  it  is 
not  true.  The  person  who  thinks  you  love  each  other 


Senator  North  167 

may  have  been  mistaken.  But  I  could  not  wait  to 
warn  you.  I  should  have  told  you  in  the  beginning 
that  when  the  time  came  either  you  must  tell  the 
man  or  I  should ;  but  it  was  a  hateful  subject.  God 
knows  it  is  hard  to  speak  now." 

Harriet  seemed  to  have  recovered  herself.  The 
color  returned  slowly  to  her  face,  her  heavy  lids 
descended.  She  rose  and  drew  herself  up  to  her  full 
height  with  the  air  of  complete  melancholy  which 
recalled  one  or  two  other  memorable  occasions.  But 
there  was  -a  subtle  change.  The  attitude  did  not 
seem  so  natural  to  her  as  formerly. 

"Your  informant  was  only  half  right,"  she  said 
sadly.  "  I  love  him,  but  he  cares  nothing  for  me. 
He  is  the  best,  the  kindest  of  friends.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  I  love  him.  I  suppose  I  was  bound  to 
love  the  first  man  who  treated  me  with  affectionate 
respect.  I  reckon  I  'd  have  fallen  in  love  with  Uncle 
if  he  'd  been  younger.  Perhaps  —  in  Europe  —  I  may 
get  over  it.  But  he  does  not  love  me." 

Betty  rose  and  looked  at  her  steadily.  What  was 
in  the  brain  behind  those  sad  reproachful  eyes?  She 
laid  her  hand  on  the  girl's  shoulder. 

"  Harriet,"  she  said  solemnly,  "  give  me  your  word 
of  honor  that  you  will  not  marry  him  without  telling 
him  the  truth.  It  may  be  that  he  does  not  love  you, 
but  he  might  —  and  if  you  were  without  hope  you 
would  be  unhappy.  Promise  me." 

Down  in  the  depths  of  those  melancholy  eyes  there 
was  a  flash,  then  Harriet  lifted  her  head  and  spoke 
with  the  solemnity  of  one  taking  an  oath. 

"  I  promise,"  she  said.  "  I  will  marry  no  man 
without  telling  him  the  truth." 


1 68  Senator  North 

This  time  her  tone  carried  conviction,  and  Betty,  re- 
lieved, sought  Sally  Carter. 

"  Nonsense  !  "  exclaimed  Miss  Carter,  when  Betty 
had  related  the  interview.  "  He  is  in  love  with  her, 
although  for  some  reason  or  other  he  is  making  an 
elaborate  effort  to  conceal  it." 

"  She  spoke  very  convincingly,"  said  Betty,  who 
would  not  admit  doubt. 

"  Anything  with  a  drop  of  negro  blood  in  it  will  lie. 
It  can't  help  it.  I  wish  the  race  were  exterminated." 

"I  wish  the  English  had  left  it  in  Africa.  They 
certainly  saddled  us  with  an  everlasting  curse." 

She  was  tempted  to  wish  that  Mr.  Walker  had  never 
discovered  her  address ;  but  although  she  did  not  love 
Harriet,  she  was  grateful  still  for  the  opportunity  to 
rescue  her  from  the  usual  fate  of  her  breed.  But 
assuredly  she  did  not  wish  her  old  friend  to  be 
sacrificed. 

Again  she  observed  him  closely,  and  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  Harriet  had  spoken  the  truth.  He 
was  gayer  than  of  old,  but  his  health  was  better  and 
he  was  in  cheerful  company,  not  living  his  days  and 
nights  in  his  lonely  damp  old  house  on  the  Potomac 
River.  He  appeared  to  enjoy  talking  to  Harriet,  but 
there  was  nothing  loverlike  in  his  attitude,  and  he 
was  almost  her  guardian.  True,  he  was  occasionally 
moody  and  absent,  but  a  man  must  retain  a  few  of 
his  old  spots ;  and  if  he  avoided  somewhat  the  cousin 
whom  he  had  once  loved  to  melancholy,  it  was  doubt- 
less because  she  found  him  as  uninteresting  as  she 
found  all  men  but  one,  and  was  not  at  sufficient  pains 
to  conceal  her  indifference.  And  then  she  admitted 
with  a  laugh  that  in  the  back  of  her  mind  she  had 


Senator  North  169 

never  acknowledged  the  possibility  of  his  loving  an- 
other woman. 

She  but  half  admitted  that  she  wished  to  believe 
no  storm  was  gathering  under  her  roof.  She  had  no 
desire  to  handle  a  tragedy. 


VII 

It  was  Saturday  morning.  Betty  arose  at  four,  brewed 
herself  a  cup  of  coffee  over  a  spirit  lamp,  and  ate 
several  biscuit  with  it.  She  hoped  Senator  North 
would  take  the  same  precaution.  Healthy  animals 
when  hungry  cannot  take  much  interest  in  each  other. 

She  dressed  herself  in  airy  white  with  a  blue  ribbon 
in  her  hair.  There  was  no  necessity  for  a  hat  at  that 
hour  in  the  morning,  but  she  took  a  white  organdie 
one  down  to  the  boat  and  put  it  under  a  seat,  lest 
she  be  late  in  returning  and  the  sun  freckling. 

It  was  faintly  dawn  as  she  pulled  out  into  the 
middle  of  the  lake  and  rowed  toward  its  northern  end. 
Even  the  trailing  thickets  on  the  water's  edge  looked 
black,  and  the  dark  forest  rising  on  every  side  seemed 
to  whisper  of  old  deeds  of  war  and  heroism,  the 
bravery  and  the  treachery  of  Indian  tribes,  the  mortal 
jealousies  of  French  and  English.  Every  inch  of 
ground  about  her  was  historical.  These  forests  had 
resounded  for  years  with  the  ugly  sounds  of  battle,  and 
more  than  once  with  the  shrieks  of  women  and 
children.  To-day  the  woodpecker  tapped,  the  blue- 
jay  cried  in  those  depths  imaffrighted ;  the  singing  of 
a  mountain  stream,  the  roar  of  a  distant  waterfall 


170  Senator  North 

alone  lifted  a  louder  voice  to  the  eternal  whisper 
of  the  pines.  The  forest  looked  calmly  down  upon 
this  flower  of  a  civilization  which  no  man  in  its  first 
experience  of  man  would  have  ventured  to  forecast, 
skimming  the  water  to  keep  tryst  with  one  whose 
ancestors  had  hewn  a  rougher  wilderness  than  this 
down  to  a  market-place  that  their  inheritor  might  win 
the  higher  honors  of  the  great  Republic  to  come. 

But  Betty  was  not  thinking  of  the  honors  he  had 
won.  She  was  wondering  if  by  so  much  as  a  glance 
he  would  betray  that  he  cared  a  little  for  her.  Or  did 
he  care  ?  In  her  thought  he  had  been  as  full  of  love 
as  herself.  But  reality  was  waiting  for  her  there  in 
the  forest,  —  reality  after  three  months  of  uninterrupted 
imaginings.  Perhaps  he  merely  found  her  agreeable 
and  amusing.  But  the  idea  did  not  start  a  tear.  The 
uncertainty  of  his  affections  and  the  certainty  that  she 
was  about  to  see  him  again  were  alike  thrilling  and 
gladdening.  Pleasurable  excitement  possessed  her,  and 
her  hands  would  have  trembled  but  for  their  tight  grip 
on  the  oars. 

He  stood  watching  her  as  she  rowed  toward  him, 
and  she  was  sure  that  she  made  a  charming  picture 
out  on  that  great  dark  lake  below  the  pines.  The 
forest  rose  almost  straight  behind  him,  but  she  knew 
the  winding  paths  which  made  ascent  easy,  and  many 
a  dry  leafy  platform  where  one  might  sit.  A  hundred 
times  she  had  imagined  herself  in  that  forest  with 
him;  its  dim  vast  solitude  had  become  almost  his 
permanent  setting  in  her  fancy.  But  as  the  boat 
grazed  the  shore,  she  said  hurriedly,  — 

"  Get  in  and  let  us  float  about.  I  am  sure  it  is  cold 
in  there.  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you  again." 


Senator  North  171 


As  her  hands  were  occupied,  he  took  the  seat  in  the 
stern  at  once,  and  she  pulled  out  a  few  yards,  then 
crossed  her  oars. 

"  You  see,  I  have  obeyed  orders,"  he  said,  smiling. 
"  Fortunately,  I  am  an  early  riser,  particularly  in  the 
country." 

"  I  thought  the  change  would  do  you  good.  It 
must  be  hot  in  Washington." 

"  It  is  frightful." 

He  looked  as  well  as  usual,  however,  and  his  thin 
grey  clothes  became  his  spare  though  thickset  figure. 
He  was  smiling  humorously  into  Betty's  eyes,  but 
his  own  were  impenetrable.  They  might  harbor  the 
delight  of  a  lover  at  a  precious  opportunity,  or  the 
amusement  of  a  man  of  the  world.  But  there  was 
no  doubt  that  he  was  glad  to  see  her  and  that  he 
appreciated  the  picture  she  made. 

"  I  hope  I  never  may  see  you  in  anything  but  white 
again,"  he  said.  "  You  are  a  gracious  vision  to 
conjure  up  on  stifling  afternoons  in  the  Senate." 

Betty  did  not  want  to  talk  about  herself.  "  Tell 
me  the  news,"  she  said.  "  How  is  that  Tariff  Bill 
going?  " 

"  A  story  has  just  leaked  out  that  a  stormy  scene 
occurred  in  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee  Room 
between  our  friend  Montgomery  and  two  members  of 
the  Committee  whose  names  I  won't  mention.  He 
openly  accused  them  of  accepting  bribes  from  certain 
Trusts.  It  even  is  reported  that  they  came  to  blows, 
but  that  is  probably  an  exaggeration.  We  have  had 
our  sensation  also.  One  of  our  fire-eaters  accused  — 
at  the  top  of  his  voice  —  the  entire  Senate  of  bribery 
and  corruption.  .  He  is  new  and  will  think  better  of 


172  Senator  North 

us  in  time.  Meanwhile  he  would  amuse  us  if  such 
things  did  not  affect  the  dignity  of  the  Senate  with 
the  outside  world.  Unfortunately  we  are  obliged  to 
accept  whomsoever  the  people  select  to  represent 
them,  and  can  only  possess  our  souls  in  patience  till 
time  and  the  Senate  tone  the  raw  ones  down." 

"Is  he  representative,  that  man?  And  those 
hysterical  members  of  the  House,  whose  speeches 
make  me  wonder  if  humor  is  really  a  national 
quality?  " 

"  They  are  only  too  representative,  unfortunately, 
but  they  are  more  hysterical  than  the  average  because 
they  have  the  opportunity  their  constituents  lack,  of 
shouting  in  public.  The  House  is  America  let  loose. 
When  a  former  private  citizen  belonging  to  the  party 
out  of  power  gets  on  his  feet  in  it,  he  develops  a 
species  of  hysteria  for  which  there  is  no  parallel  in 
history.  He  seems  to  think  that  the  louder  he  shouts 
and  the  more  bad  rhetoric  he  uses,  the  less  will  his 
party  feel  the  stings  of  defeat.  Some  of  them  tone 
down  and  become  conscientious  and  admirable  legis- 
lators, but  these  are  the  few  of  natural  largeness  of 
mind.  Party  spirit,  a  magnificent  thing  at  its  best, 
warps  and  withers  the  little  brain  in  the  party  out  of 
power.  But  politics  are  out  of  place  in  this  wilder- 
ness. There  should  be  redskins  and  bows  and  arrows 
on  all  sides  of  us.  I  used  to  revel  in  Cooper's  yarns, 
but  I  suppose  you  never  have  read  them." 

Betty  shook  her  head.  "  When  can  you  come  up 
here  to  stay?" 

"Probably  not  for  a  month  yet.  There  will  be  a 
good  deal  more  wrangling  before  the  bill  goes  through. 
I  don't  like  it  in  its  present  shape  and  don't  expect  to 


Senator  North  173 

in  its  ultimate ;  neither  do  a  good  many  of  us.  But  I 
shall  vote  for  it,  because  the  country  needs  a  high  tariff, 
and  anything  will  be  better  than  nothing  for  the  pres- 
ent. Later,  the  whole  matter  will  be  reopened  and 
war  waged  on  the  Trusts." 

"  Sally  says  they  have  bought  up  the  atmosphere." 

"  They  may  be  said  to  have  bought  up  several  cli- 
mates. I  have  spent  a  great  many  hours  puzzling  over 
that  question,  for  they  have  put  an  end  to  the  old  days 
when  young  men  could  go  into  business  with  the  hope 
of  a  progressive  future.  Now  they  are  swallowed  up  at 
once,  depersonalized,  and  the  whole  matter  is  one  of 
the  great  questions  affecting  the  future  development  of 
the  Republic." 

He  was  not  looking  at  Betty ;  he  was  staring  out  on 
the  lake.  His  eyes  and  mouth  were  hard  again ;  he 
looked  like  a  mere  intellect,  nothing  more. 

As  Betty  watched  him,  she  experienced  a  sudden 
desire  to  put  him  back  on  the  pedestal  he  had  occu- 
pied in  the  first  days  of  their  acquaintance,  and  to 
worship  him  as  an  ideal  and  forget  him  as  a  man. 
That  had  been  a  period  of  intellectual  days  and  quiet 
nights.  And  as  he  looked  now,  he  seemed  to  ask  no 
more  of  any  woman. 

But  in  a  moment  he  had  turned  to  her  again  with 
the  smile  and  the  peculiar  concentration  of  gaze  which 
made  women  forget  he  was  a  statesman. 

"  Not  another  word  of  politics,"  he  said.  "  I  did 
not  get  up  at  four  in  the  morning  to  meet  the  most 
charming  woman  in  America  and  talk  politics.  Do  you 
know  that  it  is  over  three  months  since  I  saw  you  last?  " 

"  You  left  Washington,  so,  naturally,  I  left  it  too." 

"  I  wonder  how   much   you   mean  ?     If  I  were  to 


1/4  Senator  North 

judge  you  by  myself —  Your  few  notes  were  very 
interesting.  Did  you  enjoy  California?" 

"  California  was  made  to  enjoy,  but  I  felt  very 
much  alone  in  it." 

"Of  course  you  did.  Nature  is  a  wicked  old 
matchmaker.  You  have  felt  quite  as  lonely  up  here 
since  your  return." 

"  Yes,  I  have  !  But  I  have  had  a  good  deal  to 
occupy  my  mind.  Sally  terrified  me  by  asserting  that 
Harriet  and  my  cousin  Jack  Emory  were  in  love  with 
each  other." 

"Who  is  Harriet?" 

"  Oh,  you  have  forgotten  !  And  you  made  me  take 
her  into  the  bosom  of  my  family." 

"  Oh  —  yes ;  I  had  forgotten  her  name.  I  hope 
she  is  not  making  trouble  for  you." 

"  She  admitted  that  she  loves  him,  but  insists  that  he 
does  not  love  her,  and  I  don't  think  he  does." 

"  Probably  not.  I  should  as  soon  think  of  falling  in 
love  with  a  weeping  figure  on  a  tombstone." 

"What  kind  of  women  do  you  fall  in  love  with?  " 
asked  Betty,  irresistibly.  She  was  sure  of  herself  now. 
The  passions  of  women  are  often  calmed  by  the  pres- 
ence of  their  lover.  Passion  is  so  largely  mental  in 
them  that  it  reaches  heights  in  J\c  imagination  that 
reality  seldom  justifies  and  mere  propinquity  quells. 
For  this  reason  they  often  are  recklessly  unfair  to  men, 
who  are  made  on  simpler  lines. 

They  had  floated  under  the  spreading  arms  of  a 
thicket  on  the  water's  edge,  and  she  was  a  brilliant 
white  figure  in  the  gloom. 

"I  have  no  recipe,"  he  said,  smiling.  "Certainly 
not  with  the  women  that  weep,  poor  things  !  " 


Senator  North  175 

Betty  wondered  what  his  personal  attitude  was  to 
the  tears  of  twenty  years.  She  knew  from  Sally  that 
Mrs.  North  had  long  attacks  of  depression.  But  his 
mind  had  been  occupied;  that  meant  almost  every- 
thing. And  his  heart? 

"  Do  you  love  anybody  now?  "  she  broke  out.  "  Is 
there  a  woman  in  your  life  ?  Some  one  who  makes  you 
happy?" 

The  smile  left  his  lips.  It  was  too  much  to  say  that 
it  had  been  in  his  eyes,  but  they  changed  also. 

"  There  is  no  woman  in  my  life,  as  you  put  it.  Why 
do  you  ask?  " 

"  Because  I  want  to  know." 

They  regarded  each  other  squarely.  In  a  moment 
he  said  deliberately :  "  The  greatest  happiness  that  I 
have  had  in  the  past  few  months  has  been  my  friend- 
ship with  you.  If  I  were  free,  I  should  make  love  to 
you.  If  you  will  have  the  truth,  I  can  conceive  of  no 
happiness  so  great  as  to  be  your  husband.  I  have 
caught  myself  dreaming  of  it  —  and  over  and  over  again. 
But  as  it  is  I  am  not  going  to  make  love  to  you. 
When  the  strain  becomes  too  great,  I  shall  leave  you. 
Until  then  —  Ah,  don't !  " 

Betty,  who  had  dropped  her  head  when  he  began 
to  speak,  had  raised  it  slowly,  and  her  face  concealed 
nothing. 

"  I,  too,  love  you,"  she  said  in  a  moment.  "  I  love 
you,  love  you,  love  you.  If  you  knew  what  a  relief  it 
is  to  say  it.  That  is  the  reason  I  would  not  go  up 
into  the  forest  with  you  just  now.  I  was  afraid.  I 
have  been  with  you  there  too  often  !  " 

For  the  first  time  she  saw  the  muscles  of  his  face 
relax,  and  she  covered  her  face  with  her  hands.  "  I 


176  Senator  North 


should  n't  have  told  you,"  she  whispered,  "  I  should  n't 
have  told  you.  I  have  made  it  harder.  You  will  go 
away  at  once." 

He  did  not  speak  for  some  minutes.  Then  he 
said,  — 

"  Can  you  do  without  what  we  have?  " 

"  Oh,  no  !  "  she  said  passionately.  "  Oh,  no  ! 
no!" 

"  Nor  can  I  —  without  the  hope  and  the  prospect  of 
an  occasional  hour  with  you,  of  the  sympathy  and 
understanding  which  has  grown  up  between  us.  I 
have  conquered  myself  many  times,  relinquished  many 
hopes,  and  I  think  and  believe  that  my  self-control  is 
as  great  as  a  man's  can  be.  I  shall  not  let  myself  go 
with  you  unless  you  tempt  me  beyond  endurance ;  for 
as  I  said  before,  if  I  find  that  I  am  not  strong  enough, 
I  shall  leave  you.  You  are  a  beautiful  and  seductive 
woman,  and  your  power  if  you  chose  to  exert  it  would 
madden  any  man.  Will  you  forget  it  ?  Will  you  help 
me?" 

She  dropped  her  hands.  "  Yes,"  she  said,  "  I  'd 
rather  suffer  anything,  I'd  rather  make  myself  over 
than  do  without  you.  And  I  could  n't !  I  could  n't ! 
Every  least  thing  that  happens,  I  want  to  go  straight 
to  you  about  it.  I  know  that  trouble  is  ahead, 
although  I  have  n't  admitted  it  before.  I  want  you  in 
every  way  !  in  every  way !  and  I  can't  even  have  you 
in  that.  I  never  will  speak  like  this  again,  but  I  'd 
like  you  to  know.  If  you  love  me,  you  must  know 
how  terrible  it  is.  I  am  not  a  child.  I  am  twenty- 
seven  years  old." 

"I  know,"  he  replied;  and  for  a  few  moments  he 
said  no  more,  but  looked  down  into  the  water. 


Senator  North  177 

"  I  am  not  a  believer  in  people  parting  because  they 
can't  have  everything,"  he  continued  finally.  "  It  is 
only  the  very  young  who  do  that.  They  take  the 
thing  tragically;  passion  and  disappointment  trample 
down  common-sense.  If  love  is  the  very  best  thing 
in  life,  it  is  not  the  only  thing.  Every  time  I  have 
seen  you  I  have  wanted  to  take  you  in  my  arms,  and 
yet  I  have  enjoyed  every  moment  spent  in  your  pres- 
ence. The  thought  of  giving  you  up  is  intolerable. 
We  both  are  old  enough  to  control  ourselves.  And  I 
believe  that  any  habit  can  be  acquired." 

"  And  will  you  never  take  me  in  your  arms  ?  Have 
I  got  to  go  through  life  without  that?  I  must  say 
everything  to-day  —  I  will  row  out  into  the  middle  of 
the  lake  if  you  like,  but  I  must  know  that." 

"  You  can  stay  here.  There  are  certain  things  that 
no  man  can  say,  Betty,  even  to  the  most  loved  and 
trusted  of  women.  The  only  answer  that  I  can  make  to 
your  question  is,  that  if  I  find  I  must  leave  you,  I  cer- 
tainly shall  take  you  in  my  arms  once." 

"  Are  you  sorry  I  told  you  I  loved  you  ?  Would  it 
be  easier  if  I  had  not?  " 

"  Probably".  But  I  am  not  sorry  !  Love  can  give 
happiness  even  when  one  is  denied  the  expression  of  it." 

"  I  never  intended  to  tell  you.  I  was  afraid  if  I  did 
you  would  leave  me  at  once." 

"  So  I  should  if  you  were  not  —  you.  But  I  should 
think  myself  a  fool  if  I  did  not  make  an  attempt  to 
achieve  the  second  best.  I  may  fail,  but  I  shall  try. 
And  life  is  made  up  of  compromises." 

"  You  are  more  certain  of  smashing  the  Trusts,"  she 
said  with  the  humor  which  never  bore  repression  for 
long. 

13 


i/8  Senator  North 

"  In  dealing  with  methodical  scoundrels  you  know 
at  least  where  you  are.  A  man  and  woman  never  can 
be  too  certain  of  what  five  minutes  will  bring  forth. 
That  ends  it.  We  never  will  discuss  the  question 
again  until  it  comes  up  for  the  last  time  —  if  it  does. 
I  do  not  mean  that  I  shall  not  tell  you  again  that  I 
love  you,  for  I  shall.  I  have  no  desire  that  you  shall 
forget  it.  I  mean  that  we  will  not  discuss  possibilities 
again,  nor  give  expression  to  the  passionate  regret  we 
both  must  feel.  Is  it  a  compact?  " 

"  I  will  keep  my  part  in  it.  I  promise  to  be  good. 
I  have  prided  myself  on  my  intelligence.  I  am  not 
going  to  disgrace  it  by  ruining  the  only  happiness  I 
ever  shall  have.  I  love  you,  and  I  will  prove  it  by 
making  your  part  as  easy  as  I  can,  and  by  giving  you 
all  the  happiness  I  am  permitted  to  give  you." 

He  leaned  toward  her  for  the  first  time,  but  he  did 
not  touch  her. 

"  And  I  promise  you  this,  my  darling,"  he  said 
softly :  "if  you  ever  should  be  in  great  trouble  and 
should  send  for  me  —  as  of  course  you  would  do  — 
I  will  take  you  in  my  arms  then  and  forget  myself. 
Now,  change  seats  with  me  and  I  will  row  you  part 
of  the  way  home ;  I  shall  get  out  a  half-mile  from  the 
hotel.  There  really  was  no  reason  why  you  should 
have  made  me  walk  nearly  the  entire  length  of  the 
lake." 

"  I  had  fancied  you  in  this  particular  part  of  the 
forest,  and  I  wanted  to  find  you  here." 

"That  is  so  like  a  woman,"  he  said  humorously. 
"  But  all  of  us  make  an  occasional  attempt  to  realize  a 
dream,  I  suppose." 


Senator  North  179 


VIII 

HE  came  over  to  dinner  that  night,  and  Betty,  who  had 
walked  about  in  a  vague  dreamy  state  all  day,  dressed 
herself  again  in  white.  She  woke  up  suddenly  as  she 
came  into  his  presence,  and  was  the  life  of  the 
dinner.  Harriet  seemed  absent  of  mind  and  nervous, 
but  Emory's  spirits  were  normal,  and  he  was  more 
attentive  to  Sally  Carter  than  she  to  him.  But  Betty's 
interest  in  her  friends'  affairs  had  dropped  to  a  very 
low  ebb.  She  was  in  a  new  mental  world,  stranger 
than  that  entered  by  most  women,  for  her  hands  were 
empty,  but  she  was  happy.  She  had  reflected  again 
—  in  so  far  as  she  had  been  capable  of  reflection  — 
that  most  marriages  were  prosaic,  and  that  her  own 
high  romance,  her  inestimable  happiness  in  loving  and 
being  loved  by  a  man  in  whom  her  pride  was  so  great, 
was  a  lot  to  be  envied  of  all  women.  It  was  not  all 
the  destiny  she  herself  would  have  chosen,  but  it  com- 
passed a  great-  deal.  She  would  have  made  him  wholly 
happy,  been  his  whole  happiness ;  marriage  between 
them  never  would  have  been  prosaic,  and  she  would 
not  have  cared  if  it  were ;  she  would  have  made  him 
forget  the  deep  trials  and  sorrows  of  his  past  and  the 
worries  and  annoyances  of  the  present.  But  this  was 
not  to  be,  and  there  was  much  she  could  do  for  him 
and  would. 

They  talked  politics  through  dinner,  and  Mrs.  Madi- 
son noted  with  a  sigh  that  Betty's  interest  in  the 
undesirable  institution  was  unabated.  She  admired 


180  Senator  North 

Senator  North,  however,  and  felt  pride  in  his  appre- 
ciation of  her  brilliant  daughter.  She  expressed  her 
regret  amiably  at  not  being  able  to  meet  again  Mrs. 
North,  who  would  see  none  but  old  friends  in  these 
days,  and  Senator  North  assured  her  of  his  wife's 
agreeable  remembrance  of  her  brief  acquaintance  with 
Mrs.  Madison. 

"  How  wonderfully  well  people  behave  whose  com- 
mon secret  would  set  their  world  by  the  ears,"  thought 
Betty.  "  Our  worst  enemies  could  detect  nothing ; 
and  on  what  there  is  heaven  knows  a  huge  scandal 
could  be  built." 

After  dinner  she  played  to  him  for  an  hour,  while 
the  others,  with  the  exception  of  Mrs.  Madison,  who 
went  to  sleep,  became  absorbed  in  whist.  But  she  did 
not  see  him  for  a  moment  alone,  and  Jack  rowed  him 
across  the  lake. 

She  went  to  her  bed,  but  not  to  sleep.  She  hardly 
cared  if  she  never  slept  again.  Night  in  a  measure 
gave  him  to  her,  and  to  sleep  was  to  forget  the 
wonder  that  he  loved  her. 

It  was  shortly  after  midnight  that  she  heard  a  faint 
but  unmistakable  creaking  on  the  tin  roof  of  the  veran- 
dah. She  sat  up.  Some  one  was  about  to  pass  her 
window.  She  sprang  out  of  bed,  crossed  the  room 
softly,  and  lifted  the  edge  of  the  curtain.  A  figure  was 
almost  crawling  past.  It  was  a  woman's  figure;  the 
stars  gave  enough  light  to  define  its  outlines  at  close 
range.  She  had  a  shawl  over  her  head,  but  her 
angular  body  was  unmistakable.  She  was  Miss 
Trumbull. 

Betty  dropped  the  curtain  and  stared  into  the 
darkness. 


Senator  North  181 

"Whom  is  she  watching?  "  she  thought.  "Whom 
is  she  watching?  " 

She  went  back  to  bed  and  listened  intently.  In 
half  an  hour  she  heard  the  same  sound  again. 

"  She  is  going  back  to  her  room,"  thought  Betty. 
"What  has  she  seen?" 

The  next  morning  she  sent  for  Miss  Trumbull  to 
come  to  her  room.  She  had  no  intention  of  asking 
her  to  sit  down,  but  the  woman  did  not  wait  to  be 
invited.  She  took  a  chair  and  fanned  herself  with 
a  palm  leaf  that  she  picked  from  the  table. 

"Lawsy,  but  it's  hot,"  she  said.  "I  had  a  long 
argument  with  Miss  Walker  yesterday  about  New  York 
State  bein'  hotter  'n  down  South,  and  she  would  n't 
believe  it.  But  I  usually  know  what  I  'm  talkin' 
about,  and  hotter  it  is.  I  near  lost  my  temper,  for  I 
guess  I  know  when  it's  hot — " 

"  What  were  you  doing  on  the  roof  of  the  verandah 
last  night?  "  asked  Betty,  abruptly. 

Miss  Trumbull  turned  the  dark  ugly  red  of  her  em- 
barrassed condition. 

"I  —  "  she  stammered. 

"  I  saw  you.     Whom  were  you  watching?  " 

"  I  warn't  watchin'  anybody.  I  was  takin'  a  walk. 
I  could  n't  sleep.  " 

"  You  know  perfectly  well  that  the  roof  of  a  veran- 
dah is  not  intended  to  be  walked  on.  Your  curiosity 
is  insufferable.  I  suppose  it  has  become  professional. 
Or  are  you  hoping  for  blackmail?  If  so,  the  hotel  is 
the  place  for  you." 

This  time  Miss  Trumbull  turned  purple. 

"  I  like  money  as  well  as  anybody,  I  guess,"  she 
stuttered ;  '  but  I  'd  never  sell  a  secret  to  get  it.  I 
ain't  low  down  and  despisable  if  I  am  poor." 


1 82  Senator  North 

"Then  you  admit  it  is  mere  curiosity?  I  would 
rather  you  stole." 

"Well,  I  don't  steal,  thank  heaven.  And  I  don't 
see  any  harm  in  tryin'  to  know  what 's  goin'  on  in  the 
world." 

"  Read  the  newspapers  and  let  your  neighbours 
alone,  at  all  events  the  people  in  this  house.  I  have 
twice  seen  you  reading  over  the  addresses  of  the 
letters  of  the  outgoing  mail.  Don't  you  ever  do  it 
again.  You  are  a  good  housekeeper,  but  if  I  find  you 
attending  to  anything  but  your  own  business,  once 
more,  you  go  on  the  moment.  That  is  all  I  have  to 
say." 

The  woman  left  the  room  hurriedly.  An  hour  or 
two  later  Betty  met  Harriet  on  the  terrace. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  appear  to  be  always  admonishing 
you,"  she  said,  "  but  I  must  ask  you  to  have  nothing 
more  to  do  with  Miss  Trumbull." 

"  I  don't  want  to  have  anything  more  to  do  with 
her,  honey.  She  has  taken  to  arguing  with  me  in  that 
long  self-satisfied  drawl,  and  I  have  'most  got  to  hate 
her.  I  would  n't  mind  so  much  if  she  was  ever  right, 
but  she  is  a  downright  fool,  and  I  reckon  all  fools  are 
pretty  much  alike.  And  I  have  a  horrible  idea  that 
she  suspects  something.  I  have  seen  her  staring  at 
my  finger-nails  two  or  three  times.  And  I  am  'most 
sure  some  one  has  gone  through  the  little  trunk  I  keep 
my  letters  in.  Of  course  the  key  is  always  in  my 
purse,  but  she  may  have  had  one  that  fits,  and  the 
things  are  not  like  I  left  them,  I  am  'most  sure." 

"  She  probably  envies  your  finger-nails,  and  the 
trunk,  doubtless,  was  upset  in  travelling.  Besides,  I 
don't  think  she 's  malignant.  Like  most  underbred 


Senator  North  183 

persons,  she  is  curious,  and  she  has  cultivated  the  trait 
until  it  has  become  a  disease." 

"  But  there 's  no  knowing  what  she  might  do  if  she 
took  a  dislike  to  me.  She  's  not  bad-hearted  at  all, 
but  she  could  be  spiteful,  and  I  can't  and  won't  stand 
her  any  longer.  I  reckon  I  'd  like  to  go  to  Europe, 
anyhow.  I  feel  as  if  every  one  was  guessing  my  secret. 
Over  there  you  say  they  don't  mind  those  things,  and 
I  'd  enjoy  being  in  that  kind  of  a  place." 

"  Go,  by  all  means.  I  '11  write  at  once  and  inquire 
about  a  chaperon  —  " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  want  to  go  just  yet.  September  will 
do.  I  reckon  these  mountains  are  about  as  cool  at 
this  time  of  the  year  as  anywhere,  and  they  make  me 
feel  strong."  She  added  abruptly :  "  Does  Sally 
suspect?" 

Betty  nodded.  "Yes,  she  surprised  the  truth  out 
of  me.  I  am  more  sorry — " 

Harriet  had  gripped  her  arm  with  both  hands.  Her 
face  was  ghastly.  "She  knows?  She  knows?"  she 
gasped.  "  Then  she  will  tell  him.  Oh  !  why  was  I 
ever  born?" 

Betty  made  her  sit  down  and  took  her  head  in  her 
arms.  Harriet  was  weeping  with  more  passion  than 
she  ever  had  seen  her  display. 

"You  believe  me  always,  don't  you?"  she  said. 
"  For  Miss  Trumbull  I  cannot  answer,  but  for  Sally  I 
can  —  positively.  She  never  would  do  a  mean  and 
ignoble  thing." 

"  She  loves  him  !  " 

<f  That  is  the  more  reason  for  not  telling  him.  Can- 
not you  understand  high-mindedness?  " 

"  Oh,  yes.     You  are  high-minded,  and  he  —  that  is 


1 84  Senator  North 


the  reason  I  should  die  if  he  found  out ;  for  he  hates, 
he  loathes  deceit.  Oh,  I  Ve  grown  to  hate  this 
country.  I  love  you,  but  I  'd  like  to  forget  that  it  was 
ever  on  the  map.  I  wish  I  was  coal  black  and  had 
been  born  in  Africa." 

"  Why  don't  you  go  there  and  live,  set  up  a  sort  of 
court?"  asked  Betty,  seized  with  an  inspiration. 

"  And  live  among  niggers  ?  I  despise  and  abhor 
niggers  !  If  one  put  his  dirty  black  paw  on  me,  I  'd 
'most  kill  him  !  " 

Betty  turned  away  her  head  to  conceal  a  smile ;  but 
Harriet,  who  was  wholly  without  humor,  continued : 

"  Betty,  honey,  I  want  you  to  promise  me  that  if  I 
ever  do  anything  to  disappoint  you,  you  '11  forgive  me. 
I  love  you  so  I  could  n't  bear  to  have  you  despise  me." 

"What  have  you  been  doing?"  asked  Betty, 
anxiously. 

"  Nothing,  honey,"  replied  Harriet,  promptly.  "  I 
mean  if  I  did." 

"Don't  do  anything  that  requires  forgiveness.  It 
makes  life  so  much  simpler  not  to.  And  remember 
the  promise  you  made  me." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  reckon  I  '11  ever  forget  that." 


IX 

SENATOR  NORTH  started  for  Washington  that  afternoon. 
Betty  did  not  see  him  again.  He  did  not  write,  but 
she  hardly  expected  that  he  would.  He  had  remarked 
once  that  two-thirds  of  all  the  trouble  in  the  world 
came  out  of  letters,  and  Betty,  with  Miss  Trumbull  in 


Senator  North  185 

mind,  was  inclined  to  agree  with  him.     He  would  not 
return  for  a  fortnight. 

On  Friday,  very  late,  Senator  Burleigh  arrived.  He 
was  on  the  Finance  Committee,  but  had  written  that  he 
should  break  his  chains  for  this  brief  holiday  if  he 
never  had  another.  He  had  sent  her  two  boxes  of 
flowers  since  her  return,  and  had  written  her  a  large 
number  of  brief,  emphatic,  but  impersonal  letters  dur- 
ing her  sojourn  in  California. 

He  looked  big  and  breezy  and  triumphant  as  he 
entered  the  living-room,  and  he  sprinkled  magnetism 
like  a  huge  watering-pot.  Betty  knew  by  this  time 
that  all  men  successful  in  American  politics  had  this 
qualification,  and  had  come  in  contact  with  it  so  often 
since  her  introduction  to  the  Senate  that  it  had  ceased 
to  have  any  effect  on  her  except  when  emanating  from 
one  man. 

"  Are  you  not  frightfully  tired  ?  "  she  asked.  "  What 
a  journey  ! " 

"  Anything,  even  a  fourteen  hours'  train  journey,  is 
heaven  after  Washington  in  hot  weather.  The  asphalt 
pavements  are  reeking,  and  your  heels  go  in  when  you 
forget  to  walk  on  your  toes  —  and  stick.  But  it  is 
enchanting  up  here." 

His  eyes  dwelt  with  frank  delight  on  her  fresh  blue 
organdie.  "  Oh,  Washington  does  not  exist,"  he  ex- 
claimed. "  I  thought  constantly  of  you  when  we  were 
struggling  over  that  Tariff  Bill  in  Committee,  and  I 
wanted  to  put  all  the  fabrics  you  like  on  the  free  list, 
as  a  special  compliment  to  you." 

"  The  unwritten  history  of  a  Committee  Room  !  Law 
does  not  seem  like  law  at  all  when  one  knows  the 
makers  of  it.  But  you  must  be  starved.  If  you  will 


1 86  Senator  North 

follow  me  blindly  down  the  hall,  I  promise  that  you 
will  really  be  glad  you  came." 

Miss  Trumbull  had  attended  personally  to  the  sup- 
per, and  he  did  it  justice,  although  he  continued  to 
talk  to  Betty  and  to  let  his  eyes  express  a  more  fervent 
admiration  than  had  been  their  previous  habit. 

"There's  no  hope  for  me,"  thought  Betty,  when 
Emory  had  taken  him  to  his  room.  "  He  has  made 
up  his  mind  to  propose  during  this  visit.  If  I  can 
only  stave  it  off  till  the  last  minute  !  " 

As  she  went  up  the  stair,  she  met  Miss  Trumbull, 
who  was  coming  down. 

"Your  supper  was  very  good,"  she  said  kindly. 
"  Thank  you  for  sitting  up." 

That  was  enough  for  the  housekeeper,  who  appeared 
to  have  conceived  a  worship  of  the  hand  that  had 
smitten  her.  It  had  seemed  to  Betty  in  the  last  few 
days  that  she  met  her  admiring  eyes  whichever  way 
she  turned.  Miss  Trumbull  put  out  her  hand  and 
fumbled  at  the  lace  on  Miss  Madison's  gown. 

"  Tell  me,"  she  drawled  wheedlingly,  "  that 's  your 
beau,  ain't  it?  I  guessed  he  was  when  those  flowers 
come,  and  the  minute  I  set  eyes  on  him,  I  said  to  my- 
self, '  That 's  the  gentleman  for  Miss  Madison.  My  ! 
but  you  '11  make  a  handsome  couple." 

"  Oh  !  "  exclaimed  Betty.  "  Oh  !  "  Then  she 
laughed.  The  woman  was  too  ridiculous  for  further 
anger.  "  Good-night,"  she  said,  and  went  on  to  her 
room. 


Senator  North  187 


X 

BETTY  had  organized  a  picnic  for  the  following  day, 
inviting  several  acquaintances  from  the  hotel ;  and  they 
all  drove  to  a  favorite  spot  in  the  forest.  Mrs.  Madi- 
son's maid  had  charge  of  many  cushions,  and  disposed 
her  tiny  mistress  —  who  looked  like  a  wood  fairy  in 
lilac  mull  —  comfortably  on  a  bed  of  pine  needles. 
Major  Carter  felt  young  once  more  as  he  grilled  steaks 
at  a  camp-fire,  and  Harriet  enchanted  him  with  her 
rapt  attention  while  his  memory  rioted  in  deeds  of 
war. 

Senator  Burleigh  had  never  appeared  so  well,  Betty 
thought.  There  was  an  out-of-door  atmosphere  about 
him  at  any  time ;  no  doubt  he  had  been  a  mighty  wind 
in  the  Senate  more  than  once  during  the  stormy  passage 
of  the  Tariff  Bill ;  but  with  all  out-dooss  around  him  he 
looked  nothing  less  than  a  mountain  king.  His  large 
well-knit  frame,  full  of  strength  and  energy,  was  at  its 
triumphant  best  in  outing  tweeds  and  Scotch  stockings  ; 
his  fair  handsome  face  was  boyish,  despite  its  almost 
fierce  determination,  as  he  pranced  about,  intoxicated 
with  the  mountain  air. 

"  If  you  ever  had  spent  one  summer  in  Washington, 
you  would  understand,"  he  said  to  Betty.  "  This  is 
where  I  'd  like  to  spend  the  rest  of  my  life.  I  'd  like 
to  think  I  'd  never  see  a  city  or  the  inside  of  a  house 
again." 

"  Then  you  'd  probably  hew  down  the  forest,  which 
would  be  a  loss  to  the  State  :  you  would  have  to  do 


1 88  Senator  North 

something  with  your  superfluous  energy.  And  what 
would  you  do  with  your  brain?  Mere  reading,  when 
your  arm  ached  from  chopping,  never  would  content 
you." 

"  No,  that  is  the  worst  of  civilization.  It  either  pro- 
duces discontented  savages  like  myself  or  goes  too  far 
and  turns  the  whole  body  into  brain.  I  have  managed 
to  get  a  sort  of  steam-engine  into  my  head  which  gives 
me  little  rest  and  would  wear  out  my  body  if  I  did  n't 
happen  to  have  the  constitution  of  a  buffalo.  But  I 
doubt  if  I  shall  be  what  North  is,  sixteen  years  hence. 
That  man  is  the  best  example  of  equilibrium  I  have 
ever  seen.  His  mental  activity  is  enormous,  but  his 
control  over  himself  is  so  absolute  that  he  never  wastes 
an  ounce  of  force.  I  've  seen  him  look  as  fresh  at  the 
end  of  a  long  day  of  debate  as  he  was  when  he  got  on 
his  feet.  He  never  lets  go  of  himself  for  a  moment." 

That  was  the  only  time  Betty  heard  Senator  North's 
name  mentioned  during  Burleigh's  visit,  for  the  younger 
man  was  much  more  interested  in  himself  and  the 
object  of  his  holiday. 

"  I  think  if  it  had  n't  been  for  this  Extra  Session  I 
should  have  followed  you  to  California,"  he  said 
abruptly.  "  I  did  n't  know  how  much  I  depended  for 
my  entire  happiness  upon  my  frequent  visits  to  your 
house  until  I  came  back  after  the  short  vacation  and 
found  you  gone." 

"  It  would  have  been  jolly  to  have  had  you  in  Cali- 
fornia. But  you  must  feel  that  your  time  has  not  been 
thrown  away.  Are  you  satisfied  with  the  Tariff  Bill? " 

"  I  liked  it  fairly  well  as  we  re-wrote  it,  but  I  don't 
expect  to  care  much  about  it  after  it  comes  out  of 
conference.  But  there  are  no  politics  in  the  Adiron- 


Senator  North  189 

dacks,  and  when  a  weary  Senator  is  looking  at  a  woman 
in  a  pale  green  muslin  —  " 

"  You  look  anything  but  weary.  I  expect  you  will 
tramp  over  half  the  Adirondacks  before  you  go  back. 
And  I  am  sure  you  will  eat  one  of  those  beefsteaks. 
Come,  they  are  ready." 

But  although  she  managed  to  seat  him  between 
Sally  Carter  and  an  extremely  pretty  girl,  he  was  at  her 
side  again  the  moment  the  gay  party  began  to  split 
into  couples. 

"Will  you  come  for  a  walk?"  he  asked.  "I  do 
want  to  roam  about  on  the  old  trails  the  Indians 
made,  and  to  get  away  from  these  hideous  emblems  of 
modern  civilization  —  sailor  hats.  Thank  heaven  you 
don't  wear  a  sailor  hat." 

Betty  shot  a  peremptory  glance  at  Sally  Carter,  who 
nodded  and  started  to  follow  with  a  small  dark  attache* 
who  had  pursued  herself  and  her  million  for  five  deter- 
mined years.  He  was  titled  if  not  noble,  a  clever 
operator  of  a  small  brain,  and  a  high-priest  of  teas. 
He  knew  the  personnel  of  Washington  Society  so 
thoroughly  that  he  never  had  been  known  to  waste  a 
solitary  moment  on  a  portionless  girl,  and  he  had 
successfully  cultivated  every  art  that  could  commend 
him  to  the  imperious  favourites  of  fortune.  Betty 
Madison  had  disposed  of  him  in  short  order,  but 
Miss  Carter,  although  she  refused  him  periodically, 
allowed  him  to  hang  on,  for  he  amused  her  and  read 
her  favorite  authors.  They  had  not  walked  far  when 
he  seized  the  picturesque  opportunity  to  press  his  suit, 
and  Miss  Carter,  while  scolding  him  soundly,  forgot  the 
rapid  walkers  in  front. 

Betty,  as  she  tramped  along  beside  the  large  swing- 


190  Senator  North 

ing  presence  the  forest  seemed  to  embrace  as  its  own, 
wondered  why  she  did  not  love  him,  wondered  if  she 
should,  had  she  never  met  the  other  man.  Doubtless, 
for  he  possessed  all  the  attributes  of  the  conquering 
hero,  and  she  would  have  excavated  the  ideals  of  her 
romantic  girlhood,  brushed  and  recut  their  garments, 
and  then  deliberately  set  fire  to  her  imagination.  If 
the  responsive  spark  had  held  sullenly  aloof,  awaiting  its 
time,  she,  knowing  nothing  of  its  existence,  would  soon 
have  ceased  to  remember  the  half- conscious  labors  of 
the  initial  stage  of  her  affections,  and  doubtless  would 
have  married  this  fine  specimen  of  American  manhood, 
and  been  happy  enough.  But  the  responsive  spark 
had  struck,  and  illumined  the  deepest  recesses  of  her 
heart  in  time  to  burn  contempt  into  any  effort  of  her 
brain,  now  or  hereafter.  The  question  did  assail 
her  —  as  Burleigh  talked  of  his  summer  outings  among 
the  stupendous  mountains  of  his  chosen  State  —  could 
she  turn  to  him  in  time  were  she  suddenly  and  per- 
manently separated  from  the  other  ?  She  shook  her 
head  in  resentment  at  the  treasonable  thought;  but 
her  brain  had  received  every  advantage  of  the  higher 
civilization  for  twenty-seven  years,  and  worked  by  it- 
self. She  was  young  and  she  had  much  to  give ;  in 
consequence,  much  to  receive.  She  could  find  the 
highest  with  one  man  only,  for  with  him  alone  would 
her  imagination  do  its  final  work.  But  Nature  is  in- 
exorable. She  commands  union ;  and  as  the  years 
went  by  and  one  memory  grew  dimmer —  who  knew? 
But  the  thought  gave  her  a  moment  of  sadness  so 
profound  that  she  ceased  to  hear  the  voice  of  the 
man  beside  her.  She  had  had  moments  of  deep  in- 
sight before,  and  again  she  stared  down  into  the 


Senator  North  191 


depths  where  so  many  women's  agonized  memories 
lie  buried. 

She  suddenly  felt  a  warm  clasp  round  her  hand,  and 
for  a  second  responded  to  it  gratefully,  for  hers  had 
turned  cold.  Then  she  realized  that  she  was  in  the 
present,  and  withdrew  her  hand  hurriedly. 

"  Forgive  me,"  he  said.  "  I  simply  could  n't  help 
it.  I  could  in  Washington,  and  I  felt  that  I  must  wait. 
But  up  here  —  I  want  to  marry  you.  You  know 
that,  do  you  not?  " 

Betty  glanced  over  her  shoulder.  There  was  to  be 
no  interruption.  She  was  mistress  of  herself  at  once. 

"  I  cannot  marry  you,"  she  said.  "  I  almost  wish 
I  could,  but  I  cannot." 

He  swung  into  the  middle  of  the  path  and  stood 
still,  looking  down  upon  her  squarely.  There  was 
nothing  of  the  suppliant  in  his  attitude.  He  looked 
unconquerable. 

"  I  did  not  expect  to  win  you  in  a  moment,"  he 
said.  "  I  should  not  have  expected  it  if  I  had  waited 
another  year.  I  knew  from  the  beginning  that  it  would 
be  hard  work,  for  if  a  woman  does  not  love  at  once  it 
takes  a  long  time  to  teach  her  what  love  is.  I  have 
tried  to  make  you  like  me,  and  I  think  I  have  suc- 
ceeded. That  is  all  I  can  hope  for  now.  You  have 
been  surfeited  and  satiated  with  admiration,  and  you 
regard  all  men  as  having  been  born  to  burn  incense 
before  you.  I  love  you  for  that  too.  I  should  hate  a 
woman  who  even  had  it  in  her  to  love  a  man  out  of 
gratitude.  You  have  your  world  at  your  feet,  and  I 
want  mine  at  my  feet.  You  have  won  yours  without 
effort,  for  you  were  born  with  the  crown  and  sceptre  of 
fascination.  I  have  to  fight  for  mine.  But  the  same 


192  Senator  North 

instinct  is  in  us  both,  the  same  possibilities  on  different 
lines.  I  am  not  making  you  the  broken  passionate 
appeal  of  the  usual  lover,  because  so  long  as  I  know 
you  do  not  love  me  I  could  not  place  myself  at  the 
mercy  of  emotion  —  I  have  no  thought  of  making  a 
fool  of  myself.  But  when  I  do  win  you  —  then  —  ah  ! 
that  will  be  another  matter." 

She  shook  her  head,  but  smiling,  for  she  never  had 
liked  and  admired  him  more.  She  knew  of  what 
passion  he  was  capable,  and  how  absurd  he  would  have 
looked  if  lashed  by  it  while  her  cool  eyes  looked  on. 
His  self-control  made  him  magnificent. 

"  I  never  shall  marry,"  she  said,  and  then  laughed, 
in  spite  of  herself,  at  the  world-old  formula.  Burleigh 
laughed  also. 

"  There  is  n't  time  enough  left  before  chaos  comes 
again  to  argue  with  a  woman  a  question  which  means 
absolutely  nothing.  I  am  going  to  marry  you.  I  have 
accomplished  everything  big  I  have  ever  strived  for. 
I  never  have  wanted  to  marry  any  other  woman,  and  I 
want  to  marry  you  more  than  I  wanted  to  become  a 
Senator  of  the  United  States.  Nothing  could  discour- 
age me  unless  I  thought  you  loved  another  man,  but 
so  far  as  I  can  see  there  is  no  other  suitor  in  the  field. 
You  appear  to  have  refused  every  proposing  man  in 
Washington.  Is  there  any  one  on  the  other  side  ?  "  he 
asked  anxiously. 

"  No  one.     I  have  no  suitor  beside  yourself ;  but  —  " 

"  I  don't  understand  that  word,  any  more  than  I 
understand  the  word  <  fail,'  "  he  said  in  his  rapid  trucu- 
lent tones.  Then  he  added  more  gently  :  "  I  am  afraid 
you  think  I  should  be  a  tyrant,  but  no  one  would  tyran- 
nize over  you,  for  you  are  any  man's  equal,  and  he 


Senator  North  193 

never  would  forget  it.  I  could  not  love  a  fool.  I 
want  a  mate.  And  I  should  love  you  so  much-  that  I 
never  should  cease  atoning  for  my  fractious  and  other 
unpleasant  qualities  —  " 

"  You  have  none  !  I  cannot  do  less  than  tell  you 
I  think  you  are  one  of  the  finest  men  this  country  has 
produced,  and  that  I  am  as  proud  of  you  as  she  will 
be  —  " 

"  Let  me  interrupt  you  before  you  say  <  but.'  That  I 
have  won  so  high  an  opinion  from  you  gives  me  the 
deepest  possible  gratification.  But  I  want  much  more 
than  that.  Let  us  go  on  with  our  walk.  I  '11  say  no 
more  at  present." 


XI 


HE  did  not  allude  to  the  subject  again  by  so  much  as 
a  tender  glance,  and  Betty,  who  knew  the  power 
of  man  to  exasperate,  appreciated  his  consideration. 
She  wondered  how  deep  his  actual  knowledge  of 
women  went,  how  much  of  his  success  with  them  he 
owed  to  the  strong  manly  instincts  springing  from  a 
subsoil  of  sound  common-sense  which  had  carried  him 
safely  past  so  many  of  the  pitfalls  of  life. 

Nor  did  his  high  spirits  wane.  He  stayed  out  of 
doors,  in  the  forest  or  on  the  lake,  until  midnight,  and 
was  up  again  at  five  in  the  morning.  Betty  was  fond 
of  fresh  air  and  exercise,  but  she  had  so  much  of  both 
during  the  two  days  of  his  visit  that  she  went  to  bed 
on  the  night  of  his  departure  with  a  sense  of  being 
drugged  with  ozone  and  battered  with  energy.  The 

13 


1 94  Senator  North 

next  day  she  did  not  rise  until  ten,  and  was  still  enjoy- 
ing the  dim  seclusion  of  her  room  when  Sally  tapped 
and  entered.  Miss  Carter  looked  nervous,  and  her 
usually  sallow  cheeks  were  flushed. 

"  I  've  come  to  say  something  I  'm  almost  ashamed 
to  say,  but  I  can't  help  it,"  she  began  abruptly. 
"  I  'm  going  away.  I  can't,  I  can't  sit  down  at  the 
table  any  longer  with  her,  and  treat  her  as  an  equal. 
I  writhe  every  time  she  calls  me  '  Sally.'  I  know  it 's 
a  silly  senseless  prejudice  —  no,  it  is  n't.  Black  blood 
is  loathsome,  horrible  !  —  and  the  less  there  is  of  it  the 
worse  it  is.  I  don't  mind  the  out-and-out  negroes.  I 
love  the  dear  old  darkies  in  the  country ;  and  even  the 
prosperous  colored  people  are  tolerable  so  long  as  they 
don't  presume  ;  but  there  is  something  so  hideously 
unnatural,  so  repulsive,  so  accursed,  in  an  apparently 
white  person  with  that  hidden  evidence  in  him  of 
slavery  and  lechery.  Paugh  !  it  is  sickening.  They 
are  walking  shameless  proclamations  of  lust  and  crime. 
I  'm  sorry  for  them.  If  by  any  surgical  process  the 
taint  could  be  extracted,  I  'd  turn  philanthropic  and 
devote  half  my  fortune  to  it ;  but  it  can't  be,  and  I  'm 
either  not  strong-minded  enough,  or  have  inherited 
too  many  generations  of  fastidiousness  and  refinement 
to  bring  myself  to  receive  these  outcasts  as  equals. 
I  feel  particularly  sorry  for  Harriet.  She  shows  her 
cursed  inheritance  in  more  ways  than  one,  but  without 
it,  think  what  she  would  be,  —  a  high-bred,  intellectual, 
charming  woman.  She  just  escapes  being  that  now, 
but  she  does  escape  it.  The  taint  is  all  through  her. 
And  she  knows  it.  In  spite  of  all  you  've  done  for 
her,  of  all  you  've  made  possible  for  her,  she  '11  be 
unhappy  as  long  as  she  lives." 


Senator  North  195 

"  She  certainly  will  be  if  everybody  discovers  her 
secret  and  is  as  unjust  as  you  are."  Betty,  like  the 
rest  of  the  world,  had  no  toleration  for  the  weak- 
nesses herself  had  conquered.  "  We  cannot  undo 
great  wrongs,  but  it  is  our  duty  to  make  life  a  little  less 
tragic  for  the  victims,  if  we  can." 

"  I  can't.  I  've  tried,  I  've  struggled  with  myself 
as  I  've  never  struggled  before,  ever  since  I  learned 
the  truth.  It  sickens  me.  It  makes  me  feel  the  weak, 
contemptible,  common  clay  of  which  we  all  are  made, 
and  our  only  chance  of  happiness  is  to  forget  that. 
But  I  've  said  all  I  've  got  to  say  about  myself.  I  'm 
going,  and  that  is  the  end  of  it.  I  '11  wear  a  mask  till 
the  last  minute,  for  I  would  n't  hurt  the  poor  thing's 
feelings  for  the  world.  And  I  'd  die  sixteen  deaths 
before  I  'd  betray  her.  But,  Betty,  get  rid  of  her. 
She  wants  to  go  to  Europe.  Let  her  go.  Keep  her 
there.  For  as  sure  as  fate  her  secret  will  leak  out  in 
time.  She  breathes  it.  If  I  felt  it,  others  will,  and 
certainty  soon  follows  suspicion.  Jack  would  have 
felt  it  long  since  if  he  were  not  blinded  and  intoxi- 
cated by  her  beauty;  but  you  can't  count  on  men. 
He  '11  soon  forget  her  if  you  send  her  away  in  time, 
and  for  your  own  sake  as  well  as  his  get  rid  of  her. 
You  don't  want  people  avoiding  your  house  !  " 

"She  is  going.  She  has  no  desire  to  stay,  poor 
thing  !  Of  course,  I  know  how  you  feel.  I  felt  that 
way  myself  at  first,  but  I  conquered  it.  Others  won't, 
I  suppose,  and  it  is  best  that  she  should  go  where  such 
prejudices  don't  exist.  I  spoke  to  her  again  a  day 
or  two  ago  about  it  —  for  your  idea  that  Jack  loves  her 
has  made  me  nervous,  although  I  can  see  no  evidence 
of  it  —  and  I  suggested  that  she  should  go  at  once  ;  but 


196  Senator  North 

she  seems  to  have  made  up  her  mind  to  September, 
and  I  cannot  insist  without  wounding  her  feelings.  I 
wish  Jack  would  go  away,  but  he  always  is  so  much 
better' up  here  than  anywhere  else  that  I  can't  suggest 
that,  either." 

"  Well,  I  'm  going  now  to  tell  papa  he  must  pre- 
pare his  mind  for  Bar  Harbor.  Say  that  you  forgive 
me,  Betty,  for  I  love  you." 

"Oh,  yes,  I  forgive  you,"  said  Betty,  with  a  half 
laugh,  "  for  a  wise  man  I  know  once  said  that  our 
strongest  prejudice  is  a  part  of  us." 


XII 

AFTER  Major  Carter  and  Sally  left,  Betty  had  less 
freedom,  for  her  mother  was  lonely;  moreover,  she 
dared  not  leave  Emory  and  Harriet  too  much  together. 
The  danger  still  might  be  averted  if  she  did  her  duty 
and  stood  guard.  She  never  had  seen  Jack  look  so 
well  as  he  looked  this  summer.  The  very  gold  of  his 
hair  seemed  brighter,  and  his  blue  eyes  were  often 
radiant.  His  beauty  was  conventional,  but  Betty  could 
imagine  its  potent  effect  on  a  girl  of  Harriet  Walker's 
temperament  and  limited  experience.  But  he  had 
appeared  to  prefer  Sally's  society  to  Harriet's,  and  his 
spirits  dropped  after  her  departure. 

It  was  only  when  Harriet  offered  to  read  to  Mrs. 
Madison  and  settled  down  to  three  hours'  steady  work 
a  day,  that  Betty  allowed  herself  liberty  after  the  early 
morning.  From  five  till  eight  in  the  evening  and  for 
an  hour  or  two  before  breakfast  she  roamed  the  forest 


Senator  North  197 

or  pulled  indolently  about  the  lake.  The  hours  suited 
her,  for  the  hotel  people  were  little  given  to  early 
rising ;  and  although  they  boated  industriously  by  day, 
they  preferred  the  lower  and  more  fashionable  lake, 
and  dined  at  half-past  six. 

Life  with  her  no  longer  was  a  smooth  sailing  on  a 
summer  lake.  There  was  a  roar  below,  as  if  the  lake 
rested  lightly  on  a  subterranean  ocean ;  and  the  very 
pines  seemed  to  have  developed  a  warning  note. 

Harriet  looked  like  a  walking  Fate,  nothing  less. 
Since  Sally's  abrupt  departure  she  had  not  smiled,  and 
Betty  knew  that  instinct  divined  and  explained  the 
sudden  aversion  of  a  girl  who  did  so  much  to  add  to 
the  cheerfulness  of  her  friends.  Emory  also  looked 
more  like  his  melancholy  self,  and  wandered  about  with 
a  volume  of  Pindar  and  an  expression  of  discontent. 
Did  he  love  Harriet?  and  were  her  spirits  affecting 
his?  Since  Harriet's  promise  Betty  felt  that  she  had 
no  right  to  speak.  He  had  weathered  one  love  affair, 
he  could  weather  another.  When  Harriet  was  safe  in 
Europe,  she  would  turn  matchmaker  and  marry  him 
to  Sally  Carter.  Betty  thought  lightly  of  the  disap- 
pointments of  men,  having  been  the  cause  of  many. 
So  long  as  Jack  did  not  dishonor  himself  and  his  house 
by  marriage  with  a  proscribed  race,  nothing  less  really 
mattered.  But  she  played  his  favourite  music  and  strove 
to  amuse  him. 

She  rallied  him  one  day  about  the  change  in  his 
spirits  since  the  departure  of  Sally  Carter,  and  he 
admitted  that  he  missed  her,  that  he  always  felt  his 
best  when  with  her. 

"  Not  that  I  love  her  more  than  I  do  you,"  he  added, 
fearing  that  he  had  been  impolite.  "  But  she  strikes 


198  Senator  North 

just  that  chord.  She  always  makes  me  laugh.  She  is 
a  sort  of  sun  and  warms  one  up  —  " 

"  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  she  strikes  more 
chords  than  you  will  admit.  She  's  just  the  one  woman 
you  ought  to  marry.  If  you  'd  make  up  your  mind  to 
love  her,  you  'd  soon  find  it  surprisingly  easy,  and 
wonder  why  it  never  had  occurred  to  you  before." 
Betty  thought  she  might  as  well  begin  at  once. 

He  shook  his  head,  and  his  handsome  face  flushed. 
It  was  not  a  frank  face ;  he  had  lived  too  solitary  and 
introspective  a  life  for  frankness ;  but  he  met  Betty's 
eyes  unflinchingly. 

"She  is  not  in  the  least  the  woman  for  me.  She 
lacks  beauty,  and  I  could  not  stand  a  woman  who  was 
gay  —  and  —  and  staccato  all  the  time.  It  is  delight- 
ful to  meet,  but  would  be  insufferable  to  live  with." 

"  What  is  your  ideal  type  ?  " 

He  rose  and  raised  her  hand  to  his  lips  with  all  his 
old  elaborate  gallantry.  "  Oh,  Betty  Madison  !  Betty 
Madison  !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  That  you  should  live  to 
ask  me  such  a  question  as  that?  " 

"I'd  like  to  box  his  ears  if  he  did  not  mean  that," 
thought  Betty.  "I  particularly  should  dislike  his 
attempting  to  blind  me  in  that  way." 

And  herself?  She  asked  this  question  more  than 
once  as  she  rowed  toward  the  northern  end  of  the  lake 
in  the  dawn,  or  in  the  heavier  shadows  at  the  close  of 
the  day.  Could  it  last?  And  how  long?  And  did  he 
believe  that  it  could  last  ?  Or  was  he,  with  the  practi- 
cal instinct  of  a  man  of  the  world,  merely  determined 
to  quaff  that  fragrant  mildly  intoxicating  wine  of  mental 
love-making,  until  the  gods  began  to  grin? 

She  had  many  moods,  but  when  a  woman  is  sure 


Senator  North  199 

that  her  love  is  returned  and  is  not  denied  the  man's 
occasional  presence,  she  cannot  be  unhappy  for  long, 
perhaps  never  wholly  so.  For  while  there  is  love  there 
is  hope,  and  while  there  is  hope  tears  do  not  scald. 
Betty  dared  not  let  her  thought  turn  for  a  moment  to 
Mrs.  North.  Her  will  was  strong  enough  to  keep  her 
mind  on  the  high  plane  necessary  to  her  self-respect. 
She  would  not  even  ask  herself  if  he  knew  how  low  the 
sands  had  dropped  in  that  unhappy  life.  The  horizon 
of  the  future  was  thick  with  flying  mist.  Only  his 
figure  stood  there,  immovable,  always. 

"  And  it  is  remarkable  how  things  do  go  on  and  on 
and  on,"  she  thought  once.  "They  become  a  habit, 
then  a  commonplace.  It  is  because  they  are  so  mixed 
up  with  the  other  details  of  life.  Nothing  stands  out 
long  by  itself.  The  equilibrium  is  soon  restored,  and 
unless  one  deliberately  starts  it  into  prominence  again, 
it  stays  in  its  proper  place  and  swings  with  the  rest." 

She  knew  her  greatest  danger.  She  had  it  in  her  to 
be  one  of  the  most  intoxicating  women  alive.  Was 
this  man  she  loved  so  passionately  to  go  on  to  the  end 
of  his  life  only  guessing  what  the  Fates  forbade  him  ? 
The  years  of  the  impersonal  attitude  to  men  which  she 
had  thought  it  right  to  assume  had  made  her  anticipate 
the  more  keenly  the  freedom  which  one  man  would 
bring  her.  She  frankly  admitted  the  strength  of  her 
nature,  she  almost  had  admitted  it  to  him  ;  should  she 
always  be  able  to  control  the  strong  womanly  vanity 
which  would  give  him  something  more  than  a  passing 
glimpse  of  the  woman,  making  him  forget  the  girl? 
If  she  did  anything  so  reprehensible,  it  would  be  the 
last  glimpse  he  would  take  of  her,  she  reflected  with 
a  sigh. 


200  Senator  North 

She  wondered  that  passion  and  the  spiritual  part  of 
love  should  be  so  hopelessly  entangled.  She  was 
ready  to  live  a  life  of  celibacy  for  his  sake ;  she 
delighted  in  his  mind,  and  knew  that  had  it  been 
commonplace  she  could  not  have  loved  him  did  he 
have  every  other  gift  in  the  workshop  of  the  gods  ;  she 
worshipped  his  strength  of  character,  his  independence, 
his  lofty  yet  practical  devotion  to  an  ideal ;  she  loved 
him  for  his  attitude  to  his  wife,  the  manly  and  uncom- 
plaining manner  with  which  he  accepted  his  broken 
and  shadowed  home  life,  when  his  temperament  de- 
manded the  very  full  of  domestic  happiness,  and  the 
heavy  labors  of  his  days  made  its  lack  more  bit- 
ter ;  and  she  sympathized  keenly  in  his  love  for  and 
pride  in  his  sons.  There  was  nothing  fine  about  him 
that  she  did  not  appreciate  and  love  him  the  more 
exaltedly  for;  and  yet  she  knew  that  had  he  been 
without  strong  passions  she  would  have  loved  him  for 
none  of  these  things.  For  of  such  is  love  between 
man  and  woman  when  they  are  of  the  highest  types 
that  Nature  has  produced.  Betty  hated  the  thought 
of  sin  as  she  hated  vulgarity,  and  did  not  contemplate 
it  for  a  moment,  but  if  she  had  roused  but  the  calm 
affection  of  this  man  she  would  have  been  as  miserable 
as  for  the  hour,  at  least,  she  was  happy. 


XIII 

BETTY  was  determined  that  Saturday  and  Sunday 
should  be  her  own,  free  of  care.  She  sent  Emory 
to  New  York  to  talk  over  an  investment  with  her  man 


Senator  North  201 

of  business,  and  she  provided  her  mother  with  eight 
new  novels.  As  Harriet  loved  the  novel  only  less  than 
she  loved  the  studies  which  furnished  her  ambitious 
mind,  Betty  knew  that  she  would  read  aloud  all  day 
without  complaint.  Miss  Trumbull,  of  whom  she  had 
seen  little  of  late,  and  who  had  looked  sullen  and 
haughty  since  Harriet  with  untactful  abruptness  had 
placed  her  at  arm's  length,  she  requested  to  superin- 
tend in  person  the  cleaning  of  the  lower  rooms. 

Her  mind  being  at  rest,  she  arose  at  four  on  the 
morning  of  Saturday. 

She  rowed  across  the  lake  this  time  and  picked  up 
Senator  North  about  a  half-mile  from  the  hotel.  His 
hands  were  full  of  fishing-tackle. 

"Will  you  take  me  fishing?"  he  said.  "Can  you 
give  me  the  whole  morning?  I  hear  there  is  better 
fishing  in  the  lake  above,  and  a  farmhouse  where  we 
can  get  breakfast.  Do  you  know  the  way?" 

She  nodded,  and  he  took  the  oars  from  her  and 
rowed  up  the  lake. 

"My  wife  always  sleeps  until  noon,"  he  said.  "We 
can  have  seven  hours  if  you  will  give  them  to  me." 

"  Of  course  I  '11  give  them  to  you.  I  may  as  well 
admit  that  I  intended  to  have  them.  I  made  an  elab- 
orate disposition  of  my  household  to  that  end." 

They  were  smiling  at  each  other,  and  both  looked 
happy  and  free  of  desire  for  anything  but  seven  long 
hours  of  pleasant  companionship.  The  morning, 
bright  and  full  of  sound,  mated  itself  with  the  super- 
ficial moods  of  man,  and  was  not  cast  for  love-making. 

"Well,  what  have  you  been  doing?  "  he  asked.  "  I 
have  had  you  in  a  permanent  and  most  refreshing 
vision,  floating  up  and  down  this  lake,  or  flitting  through 


2O2  Senator  North 

the  forest,  in  that  white  frock.  I  know  that  Burleigh 
was  here  —  " 

"  I  did  not  wear  white  for  him." 

"  Ah  !  He  has  looked  very  vague,  not  to  say  moon- 
ing, since  his  return.  I  am  thankful  he  is  not  seeing 
you  exactly  as  I  do.  How  is  the  lady  of  the 
shadows?  " 

"  Sally's  Southern  gorge  rose  so  high,  after  she  dis- 
covered the  taint,  that  she  left  precipitately.  She 
could  n't  sit  at  the  table  with  even  a  hidden  drop  of 
negro  blood." 

"  You  Southerners  will  solve  the  negro  problem  by 
inspiring  the  entire  race  with  an  irresistible  desire  to 
cut  its  throat.  If  a  tidal  wave  would  wash  Ireland  out 
of  existence  and  the  blacks  in  this  country  would  dis- 
pose of  themselves,  how  happy  we  all  should  be  !  What 
else  have  you  been  doing?  " 

"  I  have  read  the  Congressional  Record  every  day, 
and  the  Federalist  and  State  papers  of  Hamilton ;  to 
say  nothing  of  the  monographs  in  the  American 
Statesmen  Series.  Mr.  Burleigh  insisted  that  I  must 
acquire  the  national  sense,  and  I  have  acquired  it  to 
such  an  extent  that  half  the  time  I  don't  know  whether 
I  am  living  in  history  or  out  of  it.  Even  the  Record 
makes  me  feel  impersonal,  and  as  *  national '  as  Mr. 
Burleigh  could  wish." 

"  Burleigh  intends  that  his  State  shall  be  proud  of 
you." 

Betty  flushed.  "  Don't  prophesy,  even  in  fun.  I 
believe  I  am  superstitious.  His  idea  is  that  politics  are 
to  become  a  sort  of  second  nature  with  me  before  I 
start  my  salon  —  Why  do  you  smile  cynically?  Don't 
you  think  I  can  have  a  salon  ?  " 


Senator  North  203 

"  You  might  build  up  one  in  the  course  of  ten  years  if 
you  devoted  your  whole  mind  to  it  and  made  no  mis- 
takes; nothing  is  impossible.  But  for  a  long  while 
you  merely  will  find  yourself  entertaining  a  lot  of  men 
who  want  to  talk  on  any  subject  but  politics  after  they 
have  turned  their  backs  on  Capitol  Hill.  They  will  be 
extremely  grateful  if  you  will  provide  them  with  some 
lively  music,  a  reasonable  amount  of  punch,  and  an  un- 
limited number  of  pretty  and  entertaining  women.  But 
don't  expect  them  to  invite  you  down  the  winding  ways 
of  their  brains  to  the  cupboards  where  they  have  hung 
up  their  great  thoughts  for  the  night.  I  do  not  even 
see  them  standing  in  groups  of  three,  their  right  hands 
thrust  under  their  coat  fronts,  gravely  muttering  at  each 
other.  I  see  them  invariably  doing  their  poor  best  to 
make  some  pretty  woman  forget  they  could  be  bores  if 
they  were  not  vigilant." 

"  The  pretty  women  I  shall  ask  will  not  think  them 
bores.  The  thing  to  do  at  first,  of  course,  is  to  get 
them  there." 

"  Oh,  there  will  be  no  difficulty  about  that.  Why  do 
you  want  a  salon  ?  Are  you  ambitious?  " 

Betty  nodded.  "Yes,  I  think  I  am.  At  first  I 
only  wanted  a  new  experience.  Now  that  I  have 
met  so  many  men  with  careers,  I  want  one  too.  If 
I  succeed,  I  shall  be  the  most  famous  woman  in 
America." 

"  You  certainly  would  be.  Very  well,  I  will  do  all 
I  can  to  help  you.  It  is  possible,  as  I  said.  And  you 
have  many  qualifications  —  " 

"  Ah  !  "  Betty's  face  lit  up.  "  If  there  is  war  with 
Spain,  they  will  talk  of  nothing  else  —  Don't  frown  so 
at  me.  I  'm  sure  I  don't  want  a  war  if  you  don't 


204  Senator  North 

Those  are  my  politics.  Here  is  the  water  lane  between 
the  two  lakes.  I  almost  had  forgotten  it.  I  hope  it 
is  n't  overgrown." 

She  spoke  lightly,  but  more  truly  than  she  was  wholly 
willing  to  admit.  Women  see  political  questions,  as 
they  see  all  life,  through  the  eyes  of  some  man.  If  he 
is  not  their  lover,  he  is  a  public  character  for  whom  they 
have  a  pleasing  sentiment. 

Senator  North  pulled  into  the  long  winding  lane  of 
water  in  a  cleft  of  the  mountains.  It  was  dark  and 
chill  here ;  they  were  in  the  heart  of  the  forest ;  they 
had  but  to  turn  their  heads  to  look  straight  into  the 
long  vistas,  heavy  with  silence  and  shadows. 

He  rowed  for  some  moments  without  speaking.  He 
felt  their  profound  and  picturesque  isolation,  and  had 
no  desire  to  break  the  spell  of  it.  She  recalled  her 
wish  that  the  Adirondacks  would  swing  off  into  space, 
but  smiled  :  she  was  too  happy  in  the  mere  presence  of 
the  man  to  wish  for  anything  more.  He  let  his  eyes 
meet  hers  and  linger  in  their  depths,  and  when  he 
smiled  at  the  end  of  that  long  communion  it  was  with 
tenderness.  But  when  he  spoke  he  addressed  himself 
to  her  mind  alone. 

"  No,  you  must  not  wish  for  war  with  Spain.  If  we 
ever  are  placed  in  a  position  where  patriotism  com- 
mands war,  I  shall  be  the  last  to  oppose  it.  If  Eng- 
land had  not  behaved  with  her  calm  good  sense  at  the 
time  of  the  Venezuela  difficulty,  but  had  taken  our 
jingoes  seriously  and  returned  their  insults,  we  should 
have  had  no  alternative  but  war,  —  the  serious  and  con- 
servative of  the  country  would  have  had  to  suffer  from 
the  errors  of  its  fools,  as  is  often  the  case.  But  for  this 
war  there  would  be  no  possible  excuse.  Spain  at  one 


Senator  North  205 

time  owned  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  earth's  surface. 
She  has  lost  every  inch  of  it,  except  the  Peninsula  and 
a  few  islands,  by  her  cruelty  and  stupidity.  Her  mani- 
fest destiny  is  to  lose  these  islands  in  the  same  manner 
and  for  the  same  reasons.  And  brutal  and  stupid  as  she 
is,  we  have  no  more  right  to  interfere  in  her  domestic 
affairs  than  had  Europe  to  interfere  in  ours  when  we 
were  torn  by  a  struggle  that  had  a  far  greater  effect  on 
the  progress  of  civilization  than  the  trouble  between 
dissatisfied  colonists  and  decadent  Spaniards  in  this 
petty  island.  God  only  knows  how  many  intellects 
went  out  on  those  battlefields  in  the  four  years  of  the 
Civil  War,  which,  had  they  persisted  and  developed, 
would  have  added  to  the  legislative  wisdom  of  this 
country.  We  knew  what  we  were  losing,  knew  that 
the  longer  the  struggle  lasted  the  longer  would  our 
growth  as  a  nation  be  retarded,  and  the  horrors  of 
our  battlefields  were  quite  as  ghastly  as  anything  set 
forth  in  the  reports  from  Cuba.  And  yet  every  think- 
ing man  among  us,  young  and  old,  turned  cold  with 
apprehension  when  we  were  threatened  with  a  European 
interference  which  would  have  dishonored  us.  That 
Spain  is  behaving  with  wanton  brutality  would  not  be 
to  the  point,  even  if  the  reports  were  not  exaggerated, 
which  they  are,  —  for  the  matter  of  that,  the  Cubans  are 
equally  brutal  when  they  find  the  opportunity.  The 
point  is  that  it  is  none  of  our  business.  The  Cubans 
have  rebelled.  They  must  take  the  consequences,  sus- 
tained by  the  certainty  of  success  in  the  end.  More- 
over, we  not  only  are  on  friendly  terms  with  Spain,  we 
not  only  have  no  personal  grievance  as  a  nation  against 
her,  but  we  are  a  great  nation,  she  is  a  weak  one. 
We  have  no  moral  right,  we  a  lusty  young  country,  to 


206  Senator  North 

humiliate  a  proud  and  ancient  kingdom,  expose  the 
weaknesses  and  diseases  of  her  old  age  to  the  unpity- 
ing  eyes  of  the  world.  It  would  be  a  despicable  and  a 
cowardly  act,  and  it  horrifies  me  to  think  that  the 
United  States  could  be  capable  of  it.  For  Spain  I  care 
nothing.  The  sooner  she  dies  of  her  own  rottenness 
the  better;  but  let  her  die  a  natural  death.  My 
concern  is  for  my  own  country.  I  don't  want  her 
to  violate  those  fundamental  principles  to  whose  ad- 
herence alone  she  can  hope  to  reach  the  highest 
pitch  of  development." 

Betty  smiled.  "  Mr.  Burleigh  says  that  Washington 
had  a  brain  of  ice,  and  that  his  ideal  of  American  pros- 
perity was  frozen  within  it.  I  suppose  he  would  say 
the  same  of  you." 

"  I  have  not  a  brain  of  ice.  I  know  that  the  only 
hope  for  this  Republic  is  to  anchor  itself  to  conser- 
vatism. The  splits  in  the  Democratic  party  have  gen- 
erated enough  policies  to  run  several  virile  young 
nations  on  the  rocks.  The  Populist  is  so  eager  to 
help  the  farmer  that  he  is  indifferent  to  national  dis- 
honor. The  riff-raff  in  the  House  is  discouraging. 
The  House  ought  to  be  a  training-school  for  the 
Senate.  It  is  a  forum  for  excitable  amateurs.  The 
New  England  Senators  are  almost  the  only  ones  with 
a  long — or  any  —  record  in  the  House." 

"  They  are  bright,  most  of  those  Representatives  — 
even  the  woolly  ones ;  as  quick  as  lightning." 

"  Oh,  yes,  they  are  bright,"  he  said  contemptuously. 
"  The  average  American  is  bright.  If  one  prefixes  no 
stronger  adjective  than  that  to  his  name,  he  accom- 
plishes very  little  in  life.  Don't  think  me  a  pessi- 
mist," he  added,  smiling.  "  All  over  the  country  the 


Senator  North  207 

schools  and  colleges  are  instilling  the  principles  of  con- 
servatism and  practical  politics  on  the  old  lines,  and 
therein  lies  hope.  I  feel  sure  I  shall  live  to  see  the 
Republic  safely  past  the  dangers  that  threaten  it  now. 
The  war  with  Spain  is  the  worst  of  these.  No  war 
finishes  without  far-reaching  results,  and  the  conscience 
of  a  country,  like  the  conscience  of  a  man,  may  be  too 
severely  tried.  If  we  whip  Spain  —  the  *  if,'  of  course, 
is  a  euphemism  —  we  not  only  shall  be  tempted  to  do 
things  that  are  unconstitutional,  but  we  are  more  than 
liable  to  make  a  laughing-stock  of  the  Monroe  doctrine. 
For  reasons  I  am  not  going  into  this  beautiful  sum- 
mer morning,  with  fish  waiting  to  be  caught,  we  are  liable 
to  be  landed  in  foreign  waters  with  all  Europe  as  our 
enemy  and  our  second-rate  statesmen  at  home  pleading 
for  a  new  Constitution  —  which  would  mean  a  new 
United  States  and  unimaginable  and  interminable  diffi- 
culties. Have  I  said  enough  to  make  you  understand 
why  I  think  we  owe  a  higher  duty  to  a  country  that  should 
and  could  be  greater  than  it  is,  than  even  to  two  hun- 
dred thousand  Cubans  whom  we  should  but  starve 
the  faster  if  we  hemmed  them  in?  Very  well,  if  you 
will  kindly  bait  that  hook  I  will  see  what  I  can  get. 
The  rest  of  the  world  may  sink,  for  all  I  care  this 
morning." 

They  had  entered  another  lake,  smaller  and  even 
wilder  in  its  surroundings,  for  there  was  no  sign  of 
habitation. 

"Few  people  know  of  this  lake,  I  am  told,"  said 
Senator  North,  contentedly ;  "  and  we  are  unlikely  to 
see  a  living  soul  for  hours,  except  while  we  are  dis- 
covering that  farmhouse.  Are  you  hungry?" 

"Yes,  but  catch  a  lot  of  fish  before  we  go  to  the 


208  Senator  North 

farmhouse  —  I  know  where  it  is  —  for  I  detest  bread 
and  milk  and  eggs." 

The  fish  were  abundant,  and  he  had  filled  his  basket 
at  the  end  of  an  hour.  Then  they  tied  up  their  boat 
and  went  in  search  of  the  farmhouse.  It  was  a 
poor  affair,  but  a  good-natured  woman  fried  their  fish 
and  contributed  potatoes  they  could  eat.  Betty  was 
rattling  on  in  her  gayest  spirits,  when  her  glance 
happened  to  light  on  a  photograph  in  a  straw  frame. 
She  half  rose  to  her  feet,  then  sank  back  in  her 
chair  with  a  frown  of  annoyance. 

"  What  is  it?  "  he  asked  anxiously. 

"  A  photograph  of  my  housekeeper,  a  woman  who  is 
all  curiosity  where  her  brain  ought  to  be." 

"  Well,  it  is  only  her  photograph,  not  herself,  and 
this  woman  does  not  know  my  name.  You  are  not 
to  bother  about  anything  this  morning." 

They  went  back  to  the  lake.  He  caught  another 
basket  of  fish,  and  then  they  floated  about  idly,  some- 
times silent,  sometimes  talking  in  a  desultory  way  about 
many  things  that  interested  them  both.  Betty  wondered 
where  he  had  found  time  to  read  and  think  so  much 
on  subjects  that  belong  to  the  literary  wing  of  the 
brain  and  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  vast  subjects 
of  politics  and  statesmanship,  of  which  he  was  so 
complete  a  master.  She  recalled  what  her  mother 
had  said  about  her  brain  being  her  worst  enemy  when 
she  fell  in  love.  It  certainly  made  her  love  this  man 
more  profoundly  and  passionately,  for  her  own  was  of 
that  high  quality  which  demanded  a  greater  to  worship. 
And  if  she  loved  the  man  it  was  because  his  whole 
virile  magnetic  being  was  the  outward  and  visible 
expression  of  the  mind  that  informed  it. 


Senator  North  209 

It  was  almost  noon  when  they  parted,  pleased  with 
themselves  and  with  life.  They  agreed  to  meet  again 
on  the  following  morning. 


XIV 

As  Betty  ascended  the  terrace,  she  was  amazed  to  see 
Jack  Emory  sitting  on  the  verandah.  He  threw  aside 
his  cigarette  and  came  to  meet  her. 

"Anderson  had  gone  to  the  other  end  of  Long 
Island  —  Sag  Harbor,"  he  said ;  "  and  as  I  did  not 
like  to  follow  him  into  his  home  on  a  matter  of  busi- 
ness, I  came  back.  New  York  is  one  vast  oven;  I 
could  not  make  up  my  mind  to  wait  there.  I  'd 
rather  take  the  trip  again." 

Betty  concealed  her  vexation,  and  replied  that  she 
was  sorry  he  had  had  a  disagreeable  journey  for 
nothing,  while  wondering  if  her  conscience  would 
permit  her  to  absent  herself  for  seven  hours  on  the 
morrow. 

But  Harriet  had  read  one  novel  through  and  begun 
another.  It  was  evident  that  she  had  not  left  Mrs. 
Madison's  side,  and  Jack  had  been  home  for  two 
hours.  Betty  lightly  forbade  her  to  tire  herself  further 
that  day,  and  after  luncheon  they  all  went  for  a  drive. 
When  Mrs.  Madison  retired  for  her  nap  at  four  o'clock, 
Betty,  who  longed  for  the  seclusion  of  her  room  and 
the  delight  of  re-living  the  morning  hours,  established 
herself  in  the  middle  of  the  verandah,  with  Harriet 
beside  her  and  Jack  swinging  in  a  hammock  at  the 
corner. 

14 


210  Senator  North 

"Thank  heaven  she  wants  to  go  to  Europe  in 
September,"  she  thought.  "  If  I  had  to  be  duenna 
for  six  months,  I  should  become  a  cross  old-maid. 
I  '11  never  forgive  Sally  for  deserting  me." 

She  could  have  filled  the  house  with  company,  but 
that  would  have  meant  late  hours  and  the  sacrifice  of 
such  solitude  as  she  now  could  command.  She  had 
always  disliked  the  burden  of  entertaining  in  summer, 
never  more  so  than  during  this,  when  her  loneliest 
hours  were,  with  the  exception  of  just  fifteen  others 
and  twenty-one  minutes,  the  happiest  she  ever  had 
known. 

Jack  and  Harriet  manifested  not  the  slightest  de- 
sire to  be  together,  and  Betty  went  to  bed  at  nine 
o'clock,  wondering  if  she  were  not  boring  herself 
unnecessarily. 

She  was  deep  in  her  first  sleep  when  her  conscious- 
ness struggled  toward  an  unaccustomed  sound.  She 
awoke  suddenly  at  the  last,  and  became  aware  of  a  low, 
continuous,  but  peremptory  knocking.  She  lit  a  candle 
at  once  and  opened  the  door.  Miss  Trumbull  stood 
there,  her  large  bony  face  surrounded  by  curl-papers 
that  stood  out  like  horns,  and  an  extremely  disagree- 
able expression  on  her  mouth.  She  wore  a  grey  flannel 
wrapper  and  had  a  stocking  tied  round  her  throat. 
Betty  reflected  that  she  never  had  seen  a  more  unat- 
tractive figure,  but  asked  her  if  she  were  ill  —  if  her 
throat  were  ailing  — 

Miss  Trumbull  entered  and  closed  the  door  behind 
her. 

"I'm  a  Christian  woman,"  she  announced,  "and 
an  unmarried  one,  and  I  ain't  goin'  to  stay  in  a  house 
where  there 's  sech  goin's  on." 


Senator  North  2 1 1 

"What  do  you  mean?  "  asked  Betty  coldly,  although 
she  felt  her  lips  turn  white. 

"  I  mean  what  I  say.     I  'm  a  Christian  —  " 

"  I  do  not  care  in  the  least  about  your  religious  con- 
victions. I  want  to  know  what  you  wish  to  tell  me. 
There  is  no  necessity  to  lead  up  to  it." 

"  Well  —  I  can't  say  it.  So  there  !  I  warn't  brought 
up  to  talk  about  sech  things.  Just  you  come  with  me 
and  find  out  for  yourself." 

"You  have  been  prying  in  the  servants'  wing,  I 
suppose.  Do  I  understand  that  that  is  the  sort  of 
thing  you  expect  me  to  do?" 

"It  ain't  the  servants'  wing  —  where  I've  been 
listenin'  and  watchin'  till  I  've  made  sure  —  out  of 
dooty  to  myself."  She  lowered  her  voice  and  spoke 
with  a  hoarse  wheeze.  "  It 's  the  room  at  the  end  of 
the  second  turning." 

Betty  allowed  the  woman  to  help  her  into  a  wrap- 
per, for  her  hands  were  trembling.  She  followed  Miss 
Trumbull  down  the  hall,  hardly  believing  she  was 
awake,  praying  that  it  might  be  a  bad  dream.  They 
turned  the  second  corner,  and  the  housekeeper  waved 
her  arm  dramatically  at  Harriet's  door. 

"Very  well,"  said  Betty*  "Go  to  your  room.  I 
prefer  to  be  alone." 

Miss  Trumbull  retired  with  evident  reluctance. 
Betty  heard  a  door  close  ostentatiously,  and  inferred 
that  her  housekeeper  was  returning  to  a  point  of  van- 
tage. But  she  did  not  care.  She  felt  steeped  in 
horror  and  disgust.  She  wished  that  she  never  had 
felt  a  throb  of  love.  All  love  seemed  vulgar  and 
abominable,  a  thing  to  be  shunned  for  ever  by  any 
woman  who  cared  to  retain  her  distinction  of  mind. 


212  Senator  North 

She  would  not  meet  Senator  North  to-morrow.  She 
did  not  care  if  she  never  saw  him  again.  She  would 
like  to  go  into  a  convent  and  not  see  any  man  again. 

She  never  ceased  to  be  grateful  that  she  was  spared 
hours  of  musing  that  might  have  burnt  permanently 
into  her  memory.  She  had  not  walked  up  and  down 
the  hall  for  fifteen  minutes  before  the  door  at  the  end 
of  the  side  corridor  opened  and  Emory  came  out. 

Betty  did  not  hesitate.  She  advanced  at  once 
toward  him.  He  did  not  recoil,  he  stood  rigid  for 
a  moment.  Then  he  said  distinctly,  — 

"  We  have  been  married  three  months.  Will  you 
come  downstairs  for  a  few  moments  ?  " 

She  followed  him  down  the  stair,  trembling  so 
violently  that  she  could  not  clutch  the  banisters,  and 
fearing  she  should  fall  forward  upon  him.  But  be- 
fore she  had  reached  the  living-room  she  had  made 
a  desperate  effort  to  control  herself.  She  realized  the 
danger  of  betraying  Harriet's  secret  before  she  had 
made  up  her  mind  what  course  was  best,  but  she  was 
not  capable  of  grappling  with  any  question  until  the 
shock  was  over.  Her  brain  felt  stunned. 

Emory  lit  one  of  the  lamps,  and  Betty  turned  her 
back  to  it.  He  was  very  white,  and  she  conceived  a 
sudden  and  violent  dislike  to  him.  She  never  before 
had  appreciated  fully  the  weakness  in  that  beautiful 
high-bred  intellectual  face.  It  was  old-fashioned  and 
dreamy.  It  had  not  a  suggestion  of  modern  grip  and 
keenness  and  determination. 

"  I  have  deceived  you,  Betty,"  he  began  mournfully; 
but  she  interrupted  him. 

"  I  am  neither  your  mother  nor  your  sister,"  she 
said  cuttingly.  "  I  am  only  your  cousin.  You  were 


Senator  North  213 

under  no  obligation  to  confide  in  me.  I  object  to 
being  made  use  of,  that  is  all." 

"  I  am  coming  to  that,"  he  replied  humbly.  "  Let 
me  tell  you  the  story  as  best  I  can.  We  did  not  dis- 
cover that  we  loved  each  other  until  after  you  left.  It 
had  taken  me  some  time  to  realize  it  —  for  —  for  —  I 
did  not  think  I  ever  could  change.  I  was  almost 
horrified ;  but  soon  I  made  up  my  mind  it  was  for 
the  best.  I  had  been  lonely  and  miserable  long 
enough,  and  I  had  it  in  my  power  to  take  the  loneli- 
ness and  misery  from  another.  I  was  almost  insanely 
happy.  I  wanted  to  marry  at  once,  but  for  a  few  days 
Harriet  would  not  consent.  She  wanted  to  be  an  ac- 
complished woman  when  she  became  my  wife.  Then 
she  suggested  that  we  should  be  married  secretly,  and 
the  next  day  we  went  over  into  Virginia  and  were  mar- 
ried —  in  a  small  village.  She  begged  me  not  to  tell 
you  till  you  came  back.  When  you  returned,  her 
courage  failed  her,  for  after  all  you  were  her  bene- 
factor and  she  had  deceived  you.  She  protested  that 
she  could  not,  that  she  dared  not  tell  you.  It  has 
been  an  extremely  disagreeable  position  to  me,  for  I 
have  felt  almost  a  cad  in  this  house,  but  I  under- 
stood her  feeling,  for  you  had  every  reason  to  be 
angry  and  scornful.  So  we  agreed  to  go  to  Europe  in 
September  and  write  to  you  from  there.  She  wanted 
to  go  at  once  —  soon  after  you  returned ;  but  I  must 
wait  till  certain  money  comes  in.  I  cannot  live  on 
what  you  so  generously  gave  her.  She  would  not 
go  without  me,  and  in  spite  of  everything,  I  am  almost 
ashamed  to  say,  I  have  been  very  happy  here —  " 

"  Is  that  all  ?  I  will  go  to  my  room  now.  Good- 
night." 


214  Senator  North 

She  hurried  upstairs,  wishing  she  had  a  sleeping 
powder.  As  she  closed  the  door  of  her  room,  the 
tall  sombre  figure  of  Harriet  rose  from  a  chair  and 
confronted  her.  Betty  hastily  lit  two  lamps.  She 
could  not  endure  Harriet  in  a  half  light,  —  not  while 
she  wore  black,  at  all  events. 

"  He  has  told  me,"  she  said  briefly,  answering  the 
agonized  inquiry  in  those  haggard  eyes.  "  I  told  him 
nothing." 

Harriet  drew  a  long  breath  and  swayed  slightly. 
"Ah!"  she  said.  «  Ah  !  Thank  the  Lord  for  that.  I 
hope  you  will  never  have  to  go  through  what  I  have 
in  this  last  half- hour."  She  seemed  to  recover  herself 
rapidly,  for  after  she  had  walked  the  length  of  the  room 
twice,  she  confronted  Betty  with  a  tightening  of  the 
muscles  of  her  face  that  gave  it  the  expression  of 
resolution  which  her  features  always  had  seemed  to 
demand. 

"  This  is  wholly  my  affair  now,"  she  said.  "  It  is  all 
between  him  and  me.  It  would  be  criminal  for  you 
to  interfere.  When  I  realised  I  loved  him,  I  made 
up  my  mind  to  marry  him  at  once.  I  knew  that  you 
would  not  permit  it,  and  although  I  hated  to  deceive 
you,  I  made  up  my  mind  that  I  would  have  my  happi- 
ness. I  intended  to  tell  you  when  you  got  back,  but 
after  what  you  said  to  me  that  day  I  was  scared  you  'd 
tell  him.  If  you  do  —  if  you  do  —  I  swear  before  the 
Lord  that  I  '11  drown  myself  in  that  lake  —  " 

"  I  have  no  intention  of  telling  him.  As  you  say,  it 
is  now  your  own  affair." 

"  It  is ;  it  is.  And  although  I  may  have  to  pay 
the  price  one  day,  I  '11  hope  and  hope  till  the  last 
minute.  I  shall  not  let  him  return  to  America,  and 


Senator  North  215 

perhaps  he  will  never  guess.  Somehow  it  seems  as  if 
everything  must  be  right  different  over  there,  as  if  all 
life  would  look  different." 

"  You  will  find  your  point  of  view  quite  the  same 
when  you  get  there,  for  you  take  yourself  with  you. 
I  'd  like  to  go  to  bed  now,  Harriet,  if  you  don't  mind. 
I  'm  terribly  tired." 

"  I  '11  go.  There  is  only  one  other  thing  I  want  to 
say.  I  shall  have  no  children.  I  vowed  long  ago  that 
the  curse  I  had  been  forced  to  inherit  should  not 
poison  another  generation.  Your  cousin's  line  will  die, 
undishonored,  with  him.  The  crimes  of  many  men 
will  die  in  me.  No  further  harm  will  be  done  if  Jack 
never  knows.  And  I  hope  and  believe  he  never  will. 
Good-night." 


XV 


BETTY  slept  fitfully,  her  dreams  haunted  by  Miss 
TrumbulPs  expression  of  outraged  virtue  surrounded  by 
curl-papers.  She  rose  at  four,  almost  mechanically, 
rather  glad  than  otherwise  that  she  had  some  one  with 
whom  to  talk  over  the  events  of  the  night.  But  although 
she  admired  Senator  North  the  more  for  his  distin- 
guished contrast  to  Jack  Emory,  she  felt  as  if  all 
romance  and  love  had  gone  out  of  her.  Harriet's  case 
was  romantic  enough  in  all  conscience,  and  it  was 
hideous. 

She  met  Miss  Trumbull  in  the  lower  hall.  Outraged 
virtue  had  given  way  to  an  expression  of  self-satisfied 
importance. 


2i 6  Senator  North 

"Well,  I'm  real  glad  they  're  married,"  she  drawled. 
"  It  warn't  in  human  nature  not  to  listen,  and  I  did  — 
I  ain't  goin'  to  deny  it,  but  I  could  n't  have  slept  a 
wink  if  I  had  n't.  Ain't  you  glad  I  told  you?  " 

"  I  certainly  am  not  glad  that  you  told  me,  and  I 
wish  I  had  dismissed  you  three  weeks  ago.  When  I 
return  I  shall  give  you  a  month's  wages  and  you  can 
go  to-day." 

She  hurried  down  to  the  lake  and  unmoored  her 
boat.  Her  conscience  was  abnormally  active  this 
morning,  and  she  reflected  that  she  too  was  going  to  a 
tryst  of  which  the  world  must  know  nothing.  True,  it 
was  kept  on  the  open  lake  and  was  as  full  of  daylight 
as  it  was  of  impeccability,  but  it  was  not  for  the  world 
to  discover,  for  all  that.  She  made  no  attempt  to 
smile  as  Senator  North  stepped  into  the  boat,  and  he 
took  the  oars  without  a  word  and  pulled  rapidly  up  the 
lake.  When  they  were  beyond  all  signs  of  human 
habitation,  he  brought  the  boat  under  the  spreading 
limbs  of  an  oak  and  crossed  his  oars. 

"Now,"  he  said,  "what  is  it?  Something  very 
serious  indeed  has  happened." 

"  Jack  Emory  and  Harriet  have  been  married  three 
months."  She  filled  in  the  statement  listlessly  and 
added  no  comment. 

"  And  your  conscience  is  oppressed  and  miserable 
because  you  feel  as  if  you  were  the  author  of  the  catas- 
trophe," he  replied.  "  What  have  you  made  up  your 
mind  to  do?"  It  was  evident  that  her  attitude  alone 
interested  him,  but  he  understood  her  mood  perfectly. 
His  voice  was  friendly  and  matter-of-fact ;  there  was 
not  a  hint  of  the  sympathizing  lover  about  him. 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  as  I  did  not  act  at  the  right 


Senator  North  217 

time  I  only  should  make  things  worse  by  interfering 
now.  As  she  said,  it  is  a  matter  between  her  and 
him." 

"You  are  quite  right.  Any  other  course  would  be 
futile  and  cruel.  And  remember  that  you  have  acted 
wisely  and  well  from  the  beginning.  You  have  nothing 
to  reproach  yourself  for.  You  brought  the  girl  to  your 
house  for  a  period,  because  justice  and  humanity  de- 
manded it.  The  same  principles  demanded  that  you 
should  keep  her  secret — for  the  matter  of  that  your 
mother  made  secrecy  one  of  the  conditions  of  her 
consent.  I  had  hoped  that  you  would  get  rid  of  her 
before  she  obeyed  the  baser  instincts  of  her  nature. 
For  she  was  bound  to  deceive  some  man,  and  her  vic- 
tim is  your  cousin  by  chance  only.  Have  you  noticed 
in  Washington  —  or  anywhere  in  the  South  —  that  a 
negro  is  always  seen  with  a  girl  at  least  one  shade  whiter 
than  himself?  The  same  instinct  to  rise,  to  get  closer 
to  the  standard  of  the  white  man,  whom  they  slavishly 
admire,  is  in  the  women  as  well  as  in  the  men.  They 
are  the  weaker  sex  and  must  submit  to  Circumstance, 
but  they  would  sacrifice  the  whole  race  for  marriage 
with  a  white  man.  If  you  had  left  this  girl  to  her  fate, 
she  would  have  gone  to  the  devil,  for  a  woman  as 
white  as  that  would  have  starved  rather  than  marry  a 
negro.  If  you  had  given  her  money  and  told  her  to  go 
her  way,  she  would  have  established  herself  at  once  in 
some  first-class  hotel  where  she  would  be  sure  to  meet 
men  of  the  upper  class.  And  she  would  have  married 
the  first  that  asked  her  and  told  him  nothing.  I  am 
sorry  that  your  cousin  happens  to  be  the  victim,  because 
he  is  your  cousin.  But  if  you  will  reflect  a  moment  you 
will  see  that  he  is  no  better,  no  more  honorable  or 


2 1 8  Senator  North 

worthy  than  many  other  men,  one  of  whom  was 
bound  to  be  victimized.  I  don't  think  she  would  have 
been  attracted  to  a  fool  or  a  cad ;  I  am  positive  she 
would  have  married  a  gentleman.  These  women  have 
a  morbid  craving  for  the  caste  they  are  so  close  upon 
belonging  to." 

"  I  hate  men,"  said  Betty,  viciously. 

"  I  am  sure  you  do,  and  I  shall  not  waste  time  on 
their  defence.  I  am  concerned  only  in  setting  you 
right  with  yourself." 

"  I  always  feel  that  what  you  say  is  true  —  must  be 
true.  I  suppose  it  will  take  possession  of  my  mind 
and  I  shall  feel  better  after  a  while." 

"  You  will  feel  better  after  several  hours'  sleep.  I 
am  going  to  take  you  home  now.  Go  to  bed  and  sleep 
until  noon." 

"My  conscience  hurts  me.  I  have  spoiled  your 
visit." 

"  I  can  live  on  the  memory  of  yesterday  for  some 
time,  and  I  shall  return  in  a  fortnight." 

"  Well,  I  am  glad  you  were  here  when  it  happened. 
I  don't  know  what  I  should  have  done  if  I  could  n't 
have  talked  to  you  about  it.  I  feel  a  little  better  — 
but  cross  and  disagreeable,  all  the  same." 

"  You  are  a  woman  of  contrasts,"  he  said,  smiling. 
"  A  machine  is  not  my  ideal." 

He  rowed  her  back  to  the  point  where  he  had 
boarded  the  boat,  and  shook  her  warmly  by  the 
hand. 

"Good-bye,"  he  said.  "  Be  sensible  and  take  the 
only  practical  view  of  it.  If  you  care  to  write  to  me 
about  anything,  I  need  not  say  that  I  shall  answer  at 
once." 


Senator  North  219 

When  she  reached  home,  she  took  his  advice  and 
went  to  bed ;  and  whether  or  not  her  mind  obeyed 
his  in  small  matters  as  in  great,  she  slept  soundly  for 
five  hours.  When  she  awoke,  she  felt  young  and 
buoyant  and  untarnished  again.  She  went  at  once  to 
her  mother's  room  and  told  the  story.  Mrs.  Madison 
listened  with  horror  and  consternation. 

"  It  cannot  be ! "  she  exclaimed.  "  It  cannot 
be  !  Jack  Emory  ?  It  never  could  have  been  per- 
mitted. The  very  Fates  would  interfere.  His  father 
will  rise  from  his  grave.  Why,  it 's  monstrous.  The 
woman  ought  to  be  hanged.  And  I  thought  her 
buried  in  her  books  !  I  never  heard  of  such  deceit." 

"  It  was  the  instinct  of  self-defence,  I  suppose." 

"  He  too  !  It  never  occurred  to  me  to  watch  him 
or  to  warn  him ;  for  that  such  a  thing  could  ever 
threaten  a  member  of  my  family  never  entered  my 
head.  What  on  earth  is  to  be  done  ?  " 

It  took  Betty  an  hour  to  persuade  her  mother  that 
Jack  must  be  left  to  find  out  the  truth  for  himself; 
that  they  had  no  right,  after  placing  Harriet  in  the 
way  of  temptation,  to  make  her  more  wretched  than  she 
was  when  they  had  rescued  her.  But  she  succeeded, 
as  she  always  did ;  and  Mrs.  Madison  said  finally,  with 
her  long  sigh  of  surrender,  — 

"  Well,  perhaps  he  is  paying  for  some  of  the  sins  of 
his  fathers.  But  I  wish  he  did  not  happen  to  be  a 
member  of  our  family.  As  the  thing  is  done,  I  sup- 
pose I  may  as  well  be  philosophical  about  it.  It  is  so 
much  easier  to  be  philosophical  now  that  I  have  let  go 
my  hold  on  most  of  the  responsibilities  of  life.  As 
long  as  nothing  happens  to  you,  I  can  accept  every- 
thing else  with  equanimity.  What  story  of  her  birth 


22O  Senator  North 

and  family  do  you  suppose  she  told  him?  He  must 
have  asked  her  a  good  many  questions." 

"  Heaven  knows.  She  is  capable  of  concocting  any- 
thing ;  and  you  must  remember  that  we  had  accepted 
her  as  a  cousin.  She  could  put  him  off  easily,  for  he 
had  no  suspicion  to  start  with.  I  must  now  go  and 
have  a  final  delightful  interview  with  Miss  Trumbull." 

She  met  her  in  the  hall,  and  experienced  a  sudden 
sense  of  helplessness  in  the  face  of  that  mighty  curios- 
ity. She  almost  respected  it. 

"  I  just  want  to  say,"  drawled  Miss  Trumbull,  toss- 
ing her  head,  "  that  I  know  mor'  'n  you  think  I  do. 
There  just  ain't  nothin'  I  don't  know,  I  Ml  tell  you,  as 
you  've  turned  me  out  as  if  I  was  a  common  servant. 
I  know  who  you  meet  up  the  lake  and  take  breakfast 
in  farmhouses  with,  and  I  know  why  Miss  Harriet  was 
so  dreadful  scared  you  'd  find  out  —  " 

Betty  understood  then  why  some  people  murdered 
others.  Her  eyes  blazed  so  that  the  woman  quailed. 

"  Oh,  I  ain't  so  bad  as  you  think,"  she  stammered. 
"  I  'd  never  think  any  harm  of  you,  and  I  'd  never  be 
so  despisable  as  to  take  away  any  woman's  character. 
I'  m  a  Christian  and  I  don't  want  to  hurt  any  one. 
Likewise,  I  'd  never  tell  him  that.  Bad  as  she 's  treated 
me  —  I  who  am  as  good  and  better  'n  she  is  any  day  — 
I  wouldn't  do  any  woman  sech  a  bad  turn  as  that. 
Only  I  'm  just  glad  I  do  know  it.  When  I  'm  settin' 
in  my  poor  little  parlor  waitin'  for  another  position  to 
turn  up  —  six  months,  mebbe  —  it  Ml  be  a  big  satisfac- 
tion to  me  to  think  that  I  could  ruin  her  if  I  had  a 
mind  to  —  a  big  satisfaction." 

Betty  went  to  her  room,  wrote  a  cheque  for  three 
months'  wages  and  returned  with  it. 


Senator  North  221 

"  Take  this  and  go,"  she  said.  "  And  be  kind 
enough  not  to  look  upon  the  amount  as  a  bribe.  The 
position  of  housekeeper  is  not  an  easy  one  to  find,  and 
I  do  not  wish  to  think  of  any  one  in  distress." 


XVI 


Miss  TRUMBULL  left  that  afternoon,  and  although 
Betty  half  expected  the  woman,  who  had  possessed 
some  of  the  attributes  of  the  villain  in  the  play,  to 
reappear  at  intervals  in  the  interest  of  her  role,  the 
grave  might  have  closed  over  her  for  all  the  sign  she 
gave.  But  Miss  Trumbull  had  done  enough,  and  the 
Fates  do  not  always  linger  to  complete  their  work. 
The  housekeeper,  with  all  her  self-satisfaction,  never 
would  have  thought  of  calling  herself  a  Fate ;  but 
motives  are  not  always  commensurate  with  results. 
She  was  only  a  common  fool,  and  there  were  thousands 
like  her,  but  her  capacity  for  harm-doing  was  as  far- 
reaching  as  had  she  had  the  brain  of  a  genius  and  the 
soul  of  a  devil. 

As  Emory  positively  refused  to  go  to  Europe  until 
money  of  his  own  came  in,  although  Betty  offered  to 
lend  him  what  he  needed,  and  as  he  was  really  well 
only  when  in  the  Adirondacks,  and  an  abrupt  move  to 
one  of  the  hotels  would  have  animated  the  gossips,  it 
was  decided  finally  that  he  and  his  wife  should  remain 
where  they  were  until  it  was  time  to  sail.  Harriet 
offered  to  take  charge  of  the  servants  until  another 
housekeeper  could  be  found ;  and  as  she  seemed 


222  Senator  North 

anxious  to  do  all  she  could  to  make  amends  for 
deceiving  her  benefactress,  Betty  let  her  assume  what 
would  have  been  to  herself  an  onerous  responsibility. 
After  a  day  or  two  of  constraint  and  awkwardness,  the 
little  household  settled  down  to  its  altered  conditions ; 
and  in  a  week  everybody  looked  and  acted  much  as 
usual,  so  soon  does  novelty  wear  off  and  do  mortals 
readjust  themselves.  Jack  and  Harriet  seemed  happy ; 
but  the  former,  at  least,  was  too  fastidious  to  vaunt 
his  affections  in  even  the  little  public  of  his  lifelong 
friends.  He  spent  hours  swinging  in  a  hammock,  read- 
ing philosophy  and  smoking;  occasionally  he  read 
aloud  to  his  aunt  and  Harriet,  and  in  the  afternoon 
he  usually  took  his  wife  for  a  walk. 

Harriet  at  this  period  was  a  curious  mixture  of 
humility  and  pride.  She  could  not  demonstrate 
sufficiently  her  gratitude  to  Betty,  but  the  very  dilation 
of  her  nostril  indicated  gratified  ambition.  She  had 
held  her  head  high  ever  since  her  marriage  ;  since  her 
acknowledgment  by  the  world  as  a  wife,  her  carriage 
had  been  regal.  Betty  gave  a  luncheon  one  day  to 
some  acquaintances  at  the  hotel,  and  when  she  in- 
troduced Harriet  as  Mrs.  Emory,  she  saw  her  quiver 
like  a  blooded  horse  who  has  won  a  doubtful  race. 

As  for  Mrs.  Madison,  she  finished  by  regarding  the 
whole  affair  in  the  light  of  a  novel,  and  argued  with  Betty 
the  possible  and  probable  results.  Her  interest  in  the 
plot  became  so  lively  that  she  took  to  discussing  it 
with  Harriet ;  and  although  the  heroine  was  grateful  at 
first  for  her  interest,  there  came  a  time  when  she 
looked  apprehensive  and  careworn.  Finally  she  begged 
Mrs.  Madison,  tearfully,  not  to  allude  to  the  subject 
again,  and  Mrs.  Madison,  who  was  the  kindest  of 


Senator  North  223 

women,  looked  surprised  and  hurt,  but  replied  that  of 
course  she  would  avoid  the  subject  if  Harriet  wished. 

"  It 's  just  this,"  said  Mrs.  Emory,  bluntly ;  "  the  sub- 
ject is  so  much  on  your  mind  that  I  'm  in  constant  ter- 
ror you  '11  begin  talking  of  it  before  Jack." 

"  My  dear  girl,  I  never  would  tell  him  ;  for  his  sake 
as  well  as  your  own,  you  can  rely  on  me." 

"  I  know  you  would  never  do  it  intentionally,  ma'am, 
but  I  'm  scared  you  '11  do  it  without  thinking  ;  you  talk 
of  it  so  much,  more  than  anything.  The  other  night 
when  you  began  to  talk  of  the  crime  of  miscegenation, 
I  thought  I  should  die." 

"That  was  very  inconsiderate  of  me.  Poor  girl, 
I  '11  be  more  careful." 

But  in  her  secluded  impersonal  life  few  romantic 
interests  entered,  and  although  she  was  too  courteous 
to  harp  upon  a  painful  subject,  it  was  evident  that  she 
avoided  it  with  an  effort,  and  that  it  dwelt  in  the  fore- 
front of  her  mind.  One  evening  after  Betty  had  been 
playing  some  of  the  old  Southern  melodies,  she  caught 
Jack's  hand  in  hers,  and  assured  him  brokenly  that  no 
people  on  earth  were  bound  together  as  Southerners 
were,  and  that  he  must  think  of  her  always  as  his 
mother  and  come  to  her  in  the  dark  and  dreadful 
hours  of  his  life.  He  pressed  her  hand,  and  continued 
smoking  his  cigarette ;  he  never  had  doubted  that  his 
aunt  loved  him  as  a  mother.  Harriet  rose  abruptly 
and  left  the  room.  She  returned  before  long,  however, 
and  after  that  night  she  never  left  her  husband  alone 
with  Mrs.  Madison  for  a  moment. 


224  Senator  North 


XVII 

BETTY  herself  was  happy  again.  She  hated  the  dark 
places  of  life,  and  got  away  from  them  and  out  into  the 
sunshine  as  quickly  as  possible.  Although  she  was  too 
well  disciplined  to  shirk  her  duty,  she  did  it  as  quickly 
as  possible  and  pushed  it  to  the  back  of  her  mind. 
Jack  and  Harriet  were  married ;  that  was  the  end  of  it 
for  the  present.  Let  life  go  on  as  before.  She  gave 
several  hours  of  the  day  to  her  mother,  the  rest  to  the 
forest  and  the  lake.  When  Senator  North  came  up 
again,  she  was  her  old  gay  self,  the  more  attractive  per- 
haps for  the  faint  impression  which  contact  with  deep 
seriousness  is  bound  to  leave.  If  Jack  and  Harriet  had 
been  safely  out  of  the  country,  she  would  have  felt  like 
a  Pagan,  especially  after  the  Tariff  Bill  passed  and 
Senator  North  came  up  to  stay. 

"I  shouldn't  have  a  care  in  the  world,"  she  said  to 
him  one  morning,  "  if  I  did  not  know,  little  as  I  will 
permit  myself  to  think  of  it,  that  exposure  may  come 
any  day.  There  is  only  a  chance  that  somebody  at 
St.  Andrew  will  hear  of  the  marriage  and  denounce 
her,  but  it  might  happen.  If  only  they  were  in  Europe  ! 
She  told  me  the  other  night  that  she  knows  she  can 
keep  him  there,  her  influence  is  so  great.  I  hope  that 
is  true,  but  she  cannot  make  him  go  till  he  has  his  own 
money  to  go  with." 

"What  she  means  is  that  he  won't  leave  her.  He 
has  her  here  now  and  is  in  no  hurry  to  move.  He 
should  be  able  to  rent  his  farm.  It  is  a  very  good 
one." 


Senator  North  225 

"He  has  rented  it  for  a  year  —  from  September. 
He  gets  nothing  till  then.  If  pride  were  not  a  disease 
with  him,  he  would  let  me  advance  the  money,  but  he 
is  not  as  sure  as  he  might  be  of  the  man  who  has  rented 
the  farm  and  he  will  not  take  any  risks.  I  am  sorry 
for  Harriet.  She  has  the  idea  on  her  mind  now  that 
Molly  will  blurt  it  out,  and  she  has  the  sort  of  mind 
that  broods  and  exaggerates.  I  sincerely  wish  they  had 
got  off  to  Europe  undiscovered  and  sent  the  news  back 
by  the  pilot.  I  had  to  speak  to  Molly  once  or  twice 
myself;  I  never  knew  her  so  garrulous  about  anything." 

Senator  North  laughed.  "  You  have  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  with  your  parent,"  he  said.  "  I  fear  you  have 
not  been  firm  enough  with  her  in  the  past.  Will  you 
come  into  the  next  lake?  I  like  the  fish  better  there. 
You  are  not  to  worry  about  anything,  my  dear,  while  we 
have  the  Adirondacks  to  imagine  ourselves  happy  in." 

"  Ar'  n't  you  really  happy?  "  she  asked  him  quickly. 

"Not  wholly  so,"  he  replied.  "  But  that  is  a  ques- 
tion we  are  not  to  discuss." 


XVIII 

SENATOR  NORTH  had  been  formally  invited  by  Mrs. 
Madison  for  dinner  that  evening,  and  Betty,  who  had 
parted  from  him  just  seven  hours  before,  restrained  an 
impulse  to  run  down  the  terrace  as  his  boat  made  the 
landing.  Emory  and  Harriet  were  on  the  verandah, 
however,  and  she  managed  to  look  stately  and  more  or 
less  indifferent  at  the  head  of  the  steps.  There  were 
pillars  and  vines  on  either  side  of  her,  and  bunches  of 


226  Senator  North 

purple  wistaria  hung  above  her  head.  It  was  a  pictur- 
esque frame  for  a  picturesque  figure  in  white,  and  a 
kindly  consideration  for  Senator  North's  highly  trained 
and  exacting  eye  kept  her  immovable  for  nearly  five 
minutes.  As  he  reached  the  steps,  however,  self-con- 
sciousness suddenly  possessed  her  and  she  started  pre- 
cipitately to  meet  him.  She  wore  slippers  with  high 
Louis  Quinze  heels.  One  caught  in  a  loosened  strand 
of  the  mat.  Her  other  foot  went  too  far.  She  made 
a  desperate  effort  to  reach  the  next  step,  and  fell  down 
the  whole  flight  with  one  unsupported  ankle  twisted 
under  her. 

For  a  moment  the  pain  was  so  intense  she  hardly  was 
aware  that  Senator  North  had  his  arm  about  her 
shoulders  while  Emory  was  straightening  her  out. 
Harriet  was  screaming  frantically.  She  gave  a  sharp 
scream  herself  as  Emory  touched  her  ankle,  but  re- 
pressed a  second  as  she  heard  her  mother's  voice. 

Mrs.  Madison  stood  in  the  doorway  with  more 
amazement  than  alarm  on  her  face. 

"Betty?"  she  cried.  "Nothing  can  have  hap- 
pened to  Betty !  Why,  she  has  not  even  had  a 
doctor  since  she  was  six  years  old." 

"  It 's  nothing  but  a  sprained  ankle,"  said  Emory. 
"For  heaven's  sake,  keep  quiet,  Harriet,"  he  added 
impatiently,  "  and  go  and  get  some  hot  water.  Let 's 
get  her  into  the  house." 

Betty  by  this  time  was  laughing  hysterically.  Her 
ankle  felt  like  a  hot  pincushion,  and  the  unaccustomed 
experience  of  pain,  combined  with  Harriet's  shrieks, 
delivered  with  a  strong  darky  accent,  and  her 
mother's  attitude  of  disapproval,  assaulted  her  nerves. 

When  they  had  carried  her  in  and  put  her  foot  into  a 


Senator  North  227 

I 

bucket  of  hot  water,  she  forgot  them  completely,  and 
while  her  mother  fanned  her  and  Senator  North 
forced  her  to  swallow  brandy,  she  felt  that  all  the 
intensity  of  life's  emotions  was  circumferenced  by 
a  wooden  bucket.  But  when  they  had  carefully  ex- 
tended her  on  the  sofa,  and  Emory,  who  had  a  farmer's 
experience  with  broken  bones,  announced  his  inten- 
tion of  examining  her  ankle  at  once,  Betty  with  re- 
markable presence  of  mind  asked  Senator  North  to 
hold  her  hand.  This  he  did  with  a  firmness  which 
fortified  her  during  the  painful  ordeal,  and  Mrs.  Madi- 
son was  not  terrified  by  so  much  as  a  moan. 

"  You  have  pluck !  "  exclaimed  Senator  North  when 
Emory,  after  much  prodding,  had  announced  that  it 
was  only  a  sprain.  "You  have  splendid  courage." 

Emory  assured  her  that  she  was  magnificent,  and 
Betty  felt  so  proud  of  herself  that  she  had  no  desire 
to  undo  the  accident. 

In  the  days  that  followed,  although  she  suffered  con- 
siderable pain,  she  enjoyed  herself  thoroughly.  It  was 
her  first  experience  of  being  "fussed  over,"  as  she 
expressed  it.  She  never  had  had  so  much  as  a  head- 
ache, no  one  within  her  memory  had  asked  her  how 
she  felt,  and  she  had  regarded  her  mother  as  the 
centre  of  the  medical  universe.  Now  a  clever  and 
sympathetic  doctor  came  over  every  day  from  the 
hotel  and  felt  her  pulse,  and  intimated  that  she  was 
his  most  important  patient.  Mrs.  Madison  insisted 
upon  bathing  her  head,  Emory  and  Harriet  treated 
her  like  a  sovereign  whose  every  wish  must  be  antici- 
pated, even  the  servants  managed  to  pass  the  door 
of  her  sitting-room  a  dozen  times  a  day.  Senator 
North  came  over  every  morning  and  sat  by  her  couch 


228  Senator  North 

of  many  rose-colored  pillows ;  and  not  only  looked 
tender  and  anxious,  but  suggested  that  the  statesman 
within  him  was  dead. 

"  It  is  hard  on  you,  though,"  she  murmured  one 
day,  when  they  happened  to  be  alone  for  a  few  mo- 
ments. "  Two  invalids  are  more  than  one  man's  portion. 
And  no  one  ever  enjoyed  the  outdoor  life  as  you  do." 

"This  room  is  full  of  sunshine  and  fresh  air,  and 
I  came  up  here  to  be  with  you.  I  don't  know  but 
what  I  am  heartless  enough  to  enjoy  seeing  such  an 
imperious  and  insolently  healthy  person  helpless  for 
a  time,  and  to  be  able  to  wait  on  her." 

"I  feel  as  if  the  entire  order  of  the  universe  had 
been  reversed." 

"  It  will  do  you  good.  I  hope  you  will  have  every 
variety  of  pleasure  at  least  once  in  your  life." 

"  You  are  laughing  at  me  —  but  as  I  am  a  truthful 
person  I  will  confide  to  you  that  I  almost  hate  the  idea 
of  being  well  again." 

"  Of  course  you  do.  And  as  for  the  real  invalids 
they  enjoy  themselves  thoroughly.  The  great  compen- 
sation law  is  blessed  or  cursed,  whichever  way  you 
choose  to  look  at  it." 

"I  wonder  if  you  had  happened  to  be  unmarried, 
what  price  we  would  have  had  to  pay." 

"  God  knows.  The  compensation  law  is  the  most 
immutable  of  all  the  fates." 

"  I  have  most  of  the  gifts  of  life,  —  good  looks, 
wealth,  position,  brains,  and  the  power  of  making  people 
like  me.  So  I  am  not  permitted  to  have  the  best  of 
all.  If  I  could,  I  wonder  which  of  the  others  I  'd 
lose.  Probably  we  'd  have  an  accident  on  our  wed- 
ding journey,  which  would  reduce  my  nerves  to  such  a 


Senator  North  229 

state  that  I  'd  be  irritable  for  the  rest  of  my  life  and 
lose  my  good  looks  and  power  to  make  you  happy. 
It 's  a  queer  world." 

He  made  no  reply. 

"  What  are  you  thinking  of? "  she  asked,  meeting 
his  eyes. 

"  That  you  are  not  to  become  anything  so  common- 
place as  a  pessimist.  Get  everything  out  of  the  pres- 
ent that  is  offered  you  and  give  no  thought  to  the 
future.  What  is  it?  "  he  added  tenderly,  as  the  blood 
came  into  her  cheeks  and  she  knit  her  brows. 

"  I  moved  my  ankle  and  it  hurt  me  so  ! "  She  moved 
her  hand  at  the  same  time,  and  he  took  it,  and  held  it 
until  her  brows  relaxed,  which  was  not  for  some  time. 

The  best  of  women  are  frauds.  Betty  made  that 
ankle  the  pivot  of  her  circle  for  the  rest  of  the  summer. 
When  she  wanted  to  see  Senator  North  look  tender 
and  worried,  she  puckered  her  brows  and  sighed. 
When  she  felt  the  promptings  of  her  newly  acquired 
desire  to  be  "fussed  over,"  she  dropped  suddenly 
upon  a  couch  and  demanded  a  cushion  for  her  foot, 
or  asked  to  be  assisted  to  a  hammock.  She  often 
laughed  at  herself;  but  the  new  experience  was  very 
sweet,  and  she  wondered  over  Life's  odd  and  unex- 
pected sources  of  pleasure. 


XIX 

SENATOR  BURLEIGH  came  up  for  a  few  days  to  the 
hotel  before  going  West,  and  Betty,  who  had  antici- 
pated his  visit,  invited  two  of  the  prettiest  girls  she 


230  Senator  North 

knew  to  assist  her  to  entertain  him.  They  had  been 
at  one  of  the  hotels  on  the  lower  lake,  and  came  to  her 
for  a  few  days  before  joining  their  parents.  She 
showed  Burleigh  every  possible  attention,  permitting 
him  to  eat  nothing  but  breakfast  at  his  hotel ;  but  he 
did  not  see  her  alone  for  a  moment.  When  he  left,  he 
felt  that  he  had  had  three  cheerful  days  among  warm 
and  admiring  friends,  but  his  satisfaction  was  far  from 
complete. 

"Betty,"  said  Senator  North,  one  morning  a  fort- 
night later,  "  how  much  do  you  like  Burleigh  ?  If  you 
had  not  met  me,  do  you  think  you  could  have  loved 
him?" 

"  I  think  I  could  have  persuaded  myself  that  I  liked 
him  better  than  I  ever  could  have  liked  anybody ;  but 
it  would  not  have  been  love." 

"  Are  you  sure  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  am  sure  !  You  know  that  I  am  sure. 
It  may  be  possible  to  mistake  liking  for  love,  but  it  is 
not  possible  to  mistake  love  for  anything  else.  And 
you  cannot  even  pretend  to  believe  that  I  do  not  know 
what  love  is." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  he  said  softly,  "  I  think  you  know."  He 
resumed  in  a  moment :  "  You  are  so  young  —  I  would 
leave  you  in  a  moment  if  I  thought  that  you  did  not 
really  love  me,  that  you  were  deluding  yourself  and 
wasting  your  life.  But  I  believe  that  you  do ;  and  you 
are  happier  than  you  would  be  with  a  man  who  could 
give  you  only  the  half  that  you  demand.  Marriage  is 
not  everything.  I  love  you  well  enough  to  make  any 
sacrifice  for  you  but  a  foolish  one.  And  I  know  that 
there  is  much  less  in  the  average  marriage  than  in  the 
incomplete  relation  we  have  established.  And  there  is 


Senator  North  231 

another  marriage  that  is  incomparably  worse.  I  shall 
never  let  you  go  —  so  long  as  I  can  hold  you  —  unless 
I  am  satisfied  that  it  is  for  your  good." 

"  If  you  leave  me  for  any  Quixotic  idea,  I  '11  marry 
the  first  man  that  proposes  to  me,"  said  Betty,  lightly. 
"  I  am  too  happy  to  even  consider  such  a  possibility. 
There  are  no  to-morrows  when  to-day  is  flawless  — 
Hark!  What  is  that?" 

They  were  on  the  upper  lake.  Over  the  mountains 
came  the  sonorous  yet  wailing,  swinging  yet  rapt,  into- 
nation of  the  negro  at  his  hymns. 

"There  is  a  darky  camp-meeting  somewhere,"  said 
Senator  North,  indifferently.  "  I  hope  they  don't  fish." 

The  fervent  incantation  rose  higher.  It  seemed  to 
fill  the  forest,  so  wide  was  its  volume,  so  splendid  its 
energy.  The  echoes  took  it  up,  the  very  mountains 
responded.  Five  hundred  voices  must  have  joined  in 
the  chorus,  and  even  Senator  North  threw  back  his 
head  as  the  columns  of  the  forest  seemed  to  be  the 
pipes  of  some  stupendous  organ.  As  for  Betty,  when 
the  great  sound  died  away  in  a  wail  that  was  hardly 
separable  from  the  sighing  of  the  pines,  she  trembled 
from  head  "to  foot  and  burst  into  tears. 

He  took  hold  of  the  oars,  and  rowed  out  of  the  lake 
and  down  to  the  spot  where  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
landing.  She  had  quite  recovered  herself  by  that  time, 
and  nodded  brightly  to  him  as  he  handed  her  the  oars 
and  stepped  on  shore. 

At  the  breakfast-table  she  mentioned  casually  that 
there  was  a  negro  camp-meeting  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  that  she  never  had  heard  such  magnificent  singing. 
She  saw  an  eager  hungry  flash  leap  into  Harriet's  eyes, 
but  they  were  lowered  immediately.  Harriet  had  lost 


232  Senator  North 

much  of  her  satisfied  mien  in  the  last  few  weeks,  and 
of  late  had  looked  almost  haggard.  But  she  had  fallen 
back  into  her  old  habit  of  reticence,  a  condition  Betty 
always  was  careful  not  to  disturb.  That  afternoon, 
however,  she  asked  Betty  if  she  could  speak  alone  with 
her,  and  they  went  out  to  the  summer-house. 

"  I  want  to  go  to  that  camp-meeting,"  she  began 
abruptly.  "Betty,  I  am  nearly  mad."  She  began  to 
weep  violently,  and  Betty  put  her  arms  about  her. 

"Is  there  any  new  trouble?"  she  asked.  "Tell  me 
and  I  will  do  all  I  can  to  help  you.  Why  do  you  wish 
to  go  to  this  camp-meeting?  " 

"  So  that  I  can  shout  and  scream  and  pray  so  loud 
perhaps  the  Lord  '11  hear  me.  Betty,  I  don't  have 
one  peaceful  minute,  dreading  your  mother  will  tell 
him,  and  that  if  she  does  n't  that  dreadful  Miss  Trum- 
bull  will.  She  hated  me,  and  she  laughed  that  dry 
conceited  laugh  of  hers  when  she  said  good-bye  to  me. 
What 's  to  prevent  her  writing  to  Jack  any  minute  ?  I 
lost  her  a  good  place,  and  we  both  insulted  her  com- 
mon morbid  vanity.  What 's  to  prevent  her  taking  her 
revenge  ?  Ever  since  that  thought  entered  my  head  it 
has  nearly  driven  me  mad." 

The  same  thought  had  occurred  to  Betty  more  than 
once,  but  she  assured  Harriet  as  earnestly  as  she  could 
that  there  was  no  possible  danger,  that  the  woman  was 
conscientious  in  her  way,  and  prided  herself  on  being 
better  than  her  neighbors. 

"You  must  put  these  ideas  out  of  your  head,"  she 
continued.  "  Any  fixed  idea  soon  grows  to  huge  pro- 
portions, and  dwarfs  all  the  other  and  more  reasonable 
possibilities.  You  sail  now  in  a  few  weeks.  Keep  up 
your  courage  till  then  —  " 


Senator  North  233 

"  That 's  why  I  want  to  go  to  the  camp-meeting.  I 
used  to  go  to  them  regularly  every  year  with  Uncle,  and 
they  always  did  me  good.  I  'm  right  down  pious  by 
nature,  and  I  loved  to  shout  and  go  on  and  feel  as  if 
the  Lord  was  right  there  :  I  could  'most  see  him.  Of 
course  I  gave  up  the  idea  of  going  to  camp-meetings 
after  you  made  a  high-toned  lady  of  me,  and  I  've 
never  sung  since  you  objected  that  morning ;  but  it 's 
hurt  me  not  to  —  //  's  all  there  ;  and  if  it  could  come 
out  in  camp-meeting  along  with  all  the  rest  that 's  tor- 
turing me,  I  think  I  'd  feel  better.  You  Ve  always 
been  fine  and  happy,  you  don't  know  the  relief  it  is  to 
holler." 

Betty  drew  a  long  breath.  "  But,  Harriet,  I  thought 
you  did  not  like  negroes.  I  don't  think  any  white 
people  are  at  this  camp." 

"  I   despise  them   except  when  they  're  full  of  re 
ligion,  and  then  we  're  all  equal.     Betty,  I  must  go. 
Can    you    think   of   an   excuse    to    make    to    Jack? 
Could  n't  I  pretend  to  stay  at  the  hotel  all  day?  " 

"  There  is  no  reason  to  lie  about  it.  Nothing  would 
induce  him  to  go  to  a  camp-meeting.  But  he  knows 
that  you  are  a  Methodist,  and  that  you  were  raised  in 
the  thick  of  that  religion.  I  will  row  you  to  the  next 
lake  to-morrow  morning  before  he  is  up,  and  tell  him 
that  I  am  to  return  for  you.  I  don't  approve  of  it  at 
all.  I  think  it  is  a  horrid  thing  for  you  to  do,  if 
you  want  to  know  the  truth,  and  there  are  certain 
tastes  you  ought  to  get  rid  of,  not  indulge.  But  if 
you  must  go,  you  must,  I  suppose." 


234  Senator  North 


XX 

SHE  sent  a  note  over  to  Senator  North  that  evening, 
explaining  why  she  could  not  meet  him  in  the  morning ; 
but  as  she  rowed  Harriet  up  the  lake,  she  saw  him 
standing  on  the  accustomed  spot.  He  beckoned 
peremptorily,  and  she  pulled  over  to  the  shore,  wonder- 
ing if  he  had  not  received  her  note. 

"Will  you  take  me  with  you?"  he  asked.  "I 
cannot  get  a  boat,  and  I  should  like  to  row  for  you, 
if  you  will  let  me." 

He  boarded  the  boat,  and  Betty  meekly  surrendered 
the  oars.  She  sat  opposite  him,  Harriet  in  the  bow, 
and  he  smiled  into  her  puzzled  and  disapproving  eyes. 
But  he  talked  of  impersonal  matters  until  they  had 
entered  the  upper  lake,  and  explained  to  Harriet  the 
whereabouts  of  the  farmhouse  whence  she  might  be 
directed  to  the  camp.  Harriet  had  not  parted  her 
lips  since  she  left  home.  She  sprang  on  shore  the 
moment  Senator  North  beached  the  boat,  and  almost 
ran  up  the  path. 

"  Well !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  Did  you  suppose  that 
I  should  allow  you  to  row  through  that  lane  alone? 
There  is  no  lonelier  spot  in  America;  and  with  the 
forest  full  of  negroes  —  were  you  mad  to  think  of  such 
a  thing?" 

"  I  never  thought  about  it,"  said  Betty,  humbly.  "  I 
am  not  very  timid." 

"  I  never  doubted  that  you  would  be  heroic  in  any 
conditions,  but  that  is  not  the  question.  You  must 


Senator  North  235 

not  take  such  risks.  I  shall  return  with  you  to- 
night —  " 

"  And  Harriet !  "  exclaimed  Betty,  in  sudden  alarm. 
"  Perhaps  we  should  not  leave  her." 

"  She  will  be  with  the  crowd.  Besides,  it  is  her 
husband's  place  to  look  after  her.  I  am  concerned 
about  you  only.  And  I  certainly  shall  not  permit 
you  to  go  to  a  camp-meeting,  nor  shall  I  leave  you 
to  take  care  of  her.  So  put  her  out  of  your  mind  for 
the  present." 

And  Betty  Madison,  who  had  been  pleased  to  re- 
gard the  world  as  her  football,  surrendered  herself 
to  the  new  delight  of  the  heavy  hand.  He  re-entered 
the  long  water  lane  in  the  cleft  of  the  mountain,  and 
she  did  not  speak  for  some  moments,  but  his  eyes  held 
hers  and  he  knew  of  what  she  was  thinking. 

"  I  wonder  if  you  always  will  do  what  I  tell  you," 
he  said  at  length.  She  recovered  herself  as  soon  as 
he  spoke. 

"  Too  much  power  is  not  good  for  any  man  !  Noth- 
ing would  induce  me  to  assure  you  that  you  held 
my  destiny  in  your  hands,  even  did  you !  " 

His  face  did  not  fall.  "  You  are  the  most  spirited 
woman  in  America,  and  nothing  becomes  you  so 
much  as  obedience." 

"  Nevertheless  —  " 

"Nevertheless,  you  always  will  do  exactly  what  I 
tell  you." 

"Even  if  you  told  me  to  marry  another  man?" 

"  Ah  !  I  never  shall  tell  you  to  do  that.  On  your 
head  be  that  responsibility."  He  did  not  attempt  to 
speak  lightly.  His  face  hardened,  and  his  eyes,  which 
could  change  in  spite  of  their  impenetrable  quality, 


236 


Senator  North 


let  go  their  fires  for  a  moment.  "  Of  course,  if  you 
wanted  to  go,  I  should  make  no  protest.  But  so  long 
as  you  love  me  I  shall  hold  you  —  should,  if  we  ceased 
to  meet.  And  whatever  you  do,  don't  marry  some 
man  suddenly  in  self-defence.  No  man  ever  loved  a 
woman  more  than  I  love  you,  but  you  can  trust 
me." 

"  Ah  !  "  she  said  with  her  first  moment  of  bitterness, 
"  you  are  strong.  And  you  believe  that  if  you  held 
out  your  arms  to  me  now,  in  the  depths  of  this  forest, 
I  would  spring  to  them.  I  might  not  stay.  I  believe, 
I  hope  I  never  should  see  you  alone  again ;  but —  " 

"You  are  deliberately  missing  the  point,"  he  said 
gravely.  "  I  am  not  willing  to  pay  the  price  of  a 
moment's  incomplete  happiness.  I  have  lived  too 
long  for  that.  And  I  should  not  have  ventured  even 
so  far  on  dangerous  ground,"  he  added  more  lightly, 
"  if  it  were  not  quite  probable  that  five  hundred 
people  are  ranging  the  forest  this  minute.  We  are 
later  than  we  were  yesterday,  and  they  are  not  at  their 
hymns.  This  evening  when  we  return  I  shall  discuss 
with  you  the  possible  age  of  the  Adirondacks,  or  tell 
you  one  of  Cooper's  yarns." 

She  leaned  toward  him,  her  breath  coming  so  short 
for  a  moment  that  she  could  not  speak.  Finally,  with 
what  voice  she  could  command  she  said,  — 

"  Then,  as  we  are  safe  here  and  you  have  broken 
down  the  reserve  for  a  moment,  let  me  ask  you  this : 
Do  you  know  how  much  I  love  you  ?  Do  you  guess  ? 
Or  do  you  think  it  merely  a  girl's  romantic  fancy  —  " 

"  No  !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  No  !  No  !  "  This  time 
she  did  not  cower  before  the  passion  in  his  face.  She 
looked  at  him  steadily,  although  her  eyes  were  heavy. 


Senator  North  237 

"  Ah  !  "  she  said  at  last.  "  I  am  glad  you  know. 
It  seemed  to  me  a  wicked  waste  of  myself  that  you 
should  not.  And  if  you  do  —  the  rest  does  not  matter 
so  much.  For  the  matter  of  that,  life  is  always  making 
sport  of  its  ultimates.  The  most  perfect  dream  is  the 
dream  that  never  comes  true." 

He  did  not  answer  for  a  moment,  but  when  he  did 
he  had  recovered  himself  completely. 

"  That  is  true  enough,"  he  said.  "  We  who  have 
lived  and  thought  know  that.  But  there  never  was  a 
man  so  strong  as  to  choose  the  dream  when  Reality 
cast  off  her  shackles  and  beckoned.  Imagination 
we  regard  as  a  compensation,  not  as  the  supreme  gift. 
The  wise  never  hate  it,  however,  as  the  failures  so  often 
do.  For  what  it  gives  let  us  be  as  thankful  as  the  poet 
in  his  garret.  If  we  awake  in  the  morning  to  find  rain 
when  we  vividly  had  anticipated  sunshine,  it  is  only 
the  common  mind  who  would  regret  the  compensation 
of  the  dream." 


XXI 

had  almost  finished  his  breakfast  when  Betty 
entered  the  dining-room.  He  looked  beyond  her 
with  the  surprised  and  sulky  frown  of  the  neglected 
husband. 

"Where  on  earth  is  Harriet?"  he  asked.  "Her 
natural  inclination  is  to  lie  in  bed  all  day.  What  in- 
duced her  —  " 

"  She  wanted  to  go  to  the  camp-meeting,"  said  Betty, 
not  without  apprehension.  "  You  know  she  always 


238  Senator  North 

went  with  her  adopted  father,  who  was  a  Methodist 
clergyman  —  " 

"  Great  heaven  !  "  Her  apprehension  was  justified. 
His  face  was  convulsed  with  disgust.  "  My  wife  at  a 
camp-meeting  !  And  you  let  her  go?  " 

"  Harriet  is  not  sixteen.  And  when  a  person  has 
been  brought  up  to  a  thing,  you  cannot  expect  her  to 
change  completely  in  a  few  months.  Poor  Harriet 
lived  in  a  forsaken  village  where  she  had  no  sort  of 
society ;  I  suppose  the  camp-meeting  was  her  only  ex- 
citement. And  you  know  how  emotionally  religious 
the  —  the  Methodists  are  —  You  glare  at  me  so  I 
scalded  my  throat." 

"  I  am  sorry,  and  I  am  afraid  I  have  been  rude.  But 
you  must  —  you  must  know  how  distasteful  it  is  for 
me  to  think  of  my  wife  at  a  camp-meeting.  Great 
heaven  ! " 

"  It  is  even  worse  than  my  going  over  to  politics, 
is  n't  it  ?  Don't  take  it  so  tragically,  my  dear.  The 
truth  is,  I  suspect,  Harriet  worries  about  having  de- 
ceived Molly  and  me,  and  the  camp-meeting  is  prob- 
ably to  the  Methodist  what  the  confessional  is  to  the 
Catholic.  Both  must  ease  one's  mind  a  lot." 

"  Harriet  will  have  to  ease  her  mind  in  some  other 
way  in  the  future.  And  it  will  be  some  time  before  I 
can  forget  this." 

"  Thank  heaven  I  am  not  married.  Are  you  going 
after  her?  Shall  you  march  her  home  by  the  ear?  " 

"  I  certainly  shall  not  go  after  her  —  that  is,  if  she  is 
in  no  danger.  Where  is  this  camp-meeting?  " 

"  Oh,  there  are  five  hundred  or  so  of  them,  and  it  is 
near  a  farmhouse."  It  was  evident  that  he  had  for- 
gotten the  color  of  the  camp.  "Seriously,  I  would 


Senator  North  239 

let  her  alone  for  to-day.  That  form  of  hysteria  has  to 
wear  itself  out.  I  did  not  like  the  idea  of  her  going, 
and  told  her  so,  but  I  saw  what  it  meant  to  her,  and 
took  her.  When  you  get  her  over  to  Europe,  settle  in 
some  old  town  with  a  beautiful  cathedral  and  a  dozen 
churches,  where  the  choir  boys  are  ducky  little  things 
in  scarlet  habits  and  white  lace  capes,  and  there  are 
mediaeval  religious  processions  with  gorgeous  costumes 
and  solemn  chants,  and  the  bells  ring  all  day  long,  and 
there  is  a  service  every  five  minutes  with  music,  and  a 
blessed  relic  to  kiss  in  every  church.  She  will  be  a 
Catholic  in  less  than  no  time,  and  look  back  upon  the 
camp-meeting  with  a  shudder  of  aristocratic  disgust." 

"  I  hope  so.  If  you  will  excuse  me  I  will  go  out 
and  smoke  a  cigarette." 

She  said  to  Senator  North  as  they  approached  the 
head  of  the  lake  that  evening,  "  A  tempest  is  brew- 
ing in  our  matrimonial  teapot.  He  looked  ready  to 
divorce  her  when  I  told  him  where  she  had  gone." 

"  I  hope  he  won't  divorce  her  when  she  gets  home. 
Keep  them  apart  if  you  can.  She  has  developed  more 
than  one  characteristic  of  the  race  to  which  she  is  as 
surely  forged  as  if  her  fetters  were  visible.  If  she  has 
all  its  religious  fanaticism  in  her,  she  is  quite  likely  to 
work  up  to  that  point  of  hysteria  where  she  will  pro- 
claim the  truth  to  the  world." 

"Ah!"  cried  Betty,  sharply.  "Why  did  I  not 
think  of  that  ?  What  a  poor  guardian  I  am  !  If  I 
had  warned  her,  she  never  would  have  gone  —  but 
probably  she  won't,  as  we  have  thought  of  it.  The 
expected  so  seldom  happens." 

"  Don't  count  too  much  on  that  when  great  crises 


240  Senator  North 

threaten,"  he  said  grimly.  "The  law  of  cause  and 
effect  does  not  hide  in  the  realm  of  the  unexpected 
when  intelligent  beings  go  looking  for  it.  To  tell  you 
the  truth,  I  have  been  apprehensive  ever  since  I  saw 
her  face  this  morning.  All  the  intelligence  had  gone 
out  of  it.  With  her  race,  religion  means  the  periodical 
necessity  to  relapse  into  barbarism,  to  act  like  shout- 
ing savages  after  the  year  of  civilized  restraints.  I  will 
venture  to  guess  that  Harriet  has  forgotten  to-day 
everything  she  has  learned  since  she  entered  your 
family.  Within  that  sad,  calm,  high-bred  envelope  is 
—  I  am  afraid  —  a  mind  which  has  the  taint  of  the 
blood  that  feeds  it." 

"  I  have  thought  that  for  a  long  while.  Poor  thing, 
why  was  she  ever  born?  " 

"  Because  sin  has  a  habit  of  persisting,  and  is  re- 
morseless in  its  choice  of  vehicles.  I  do  not  see  any- 
thing of  her." 

They  waited  almost  an  hour  before  she  came  hur- 
rying down  the  path.  She  barely  recognized  them,  but 
dropped  on  her  seat  in  the  bow  and  crouched  there, 
sobbing  and  groaning. 

It  was  a  cheerless  journey  through  the  forest  and 
down  the  lake,  and  the  element  of  the  grotesque  did 
nothing  to  relieve  it.  Betty,  distracted  at  first,  soon 
realized  that  upon  her  lay  the  responsibility  of  averting 
a  tragedy,  and  she  ordered  her  brain  to  action.  She 
leaned  forward  finally  and  whispered  to  Senator  North  : 
"  Row  me  to  my  boat-house  and  I  will  ask  Jack  to 
row  you  home.  He  is  too  courteous  to  suggest  send- 
ing a  servant  if  I  make  a  point  of  his  taking  you." 

He  nodded.  She  saw  the  confidence  in  his  eyes, 
and  even  in  that  hour  of  supreme  anxiety  her  mind 


Senator  North  241 

leapt  forward  to  the  winning  of  his  approval  as  the 
ultimate  of  her  struggle  to  save  the  happiness  of  two 
human  beings  who  were  almost  at  her  mercy. 

Jack  was  walking  on  the  terrace.  Betty  called  to 
him,  and  he  consented  with  no  marked  grace  to  be 
boatman.  He  had  taken  the  oars  before  he  noticed 
that  his  wife,  whom  he  was  not  yet  ready  to  forgive, 
was  being  hurried  off  by  his  cousin. 

"Mrs.  Emory  is  very  tired  and  her  head  aches," 
said  Senator  North.  "  Miss  Madison  is  anxious  to  get 
her  into  bed.  Can't  you  dine  with  me  to-night  ?  It 
would  give  me  great  pleasure,  and  men  are  superfluous, 
I  have  observed,  when  women  have  headaches." 

And  Jack,  who  was  not  sorry  to  punish  his  wife, 
accepted  the  invitation  and  did  not  return  home  till 
midnight. 


XXII 

BETTY  took  Harriet  to  her  own  room  and  put  her  to 
bed.  She-  had  dinner  for  both  sent  upstairs,  but 
Harriet  would  not  eat ;  neither  would  she  speak.  She 
lay  in  the  bed,  half  on  her  face,  as  limp  as  the  newly 
dead.  Occasionally  she  sighed  or  groaned.  Betty 
tried  several  times  to  rouse  her,  but  she  would  not 
respond.  Finally  she  shook  her. 

"You  shall  listen,"  she  said  sternly.  "  As  you  seem 
to  have  left  your  common-sense  up  there  with  those 
negroes,  you  are  not  to  leave  this  room  until  you  have 
recovered  it  —  until  I  give  you  permission.  Do  you 
understand?" 

16 


242  Senator  North 

She  had  calculated  upon  striking  the  slavish  chord 
in  the  demoralized  creature,  and  her  intelligence  had 
acted  unerringly.  Harriet  bent  her  head  humbly,  and 
muttered  that  she  would  do  what  she  was  told. 

When  Betty  heard  Jack  return,  she  went  out  to 
meet  him,  locking  the  door  behind  her. 

"Harriet  is  with  me  for  to-night,"  she  said.  "She 
needs  constant  care,  for  she  is  both  excited  and  worn 
out ;  and  as  you  still  are  angry  with  her  —  " 

"  Oh,  I  am  sorry  if  she  is  really  ill,  and  I  will  do 
anything  I  can  —  " 

"  Then  leave  her  with  me  for  to-night.  You  know 
nothing  about  taking  care  of  women." 

Jack,  who  was  sleepy  and  still  sulky,  thanked  her 
and  went  off  to  his  room.  She  returned  to  Harriet, 
who  finally  appeared  to  sleep. 

Betty  took  the  key  fronj  the  door  and  put  it  in  her 
pocket,  then  lay  down  on  the  sofa  to  sleep  while  she 
could  :  she  anticipated  a  long  and  difficult  day  with 
Harriet.  She  was  awakened  suddenly  by  the  noise  of 
a  door  violently  slammed.  Immediately,  she  heard  the 
sound  of  running  feet. 

She  looked  at  the  bed.  Harriet  was  not  there.  A 
draught  of  cold  air  struck  her,  and  she  saw  a  curtain 
flutter.  She  ran  to  the  window.  It  was  open.  She 
stepped  out  upon  the  roof  of  the  verandah,  and  went 
rapidly  round  the  corner  to  Emory's  room.  One  of 
the  windows  was  open.  Betty  looked  up  at  the  dark 
forest  behind  the  lonely  house  and  caught  her  breath. 
What  should  she  see?  But  she  went  on.  A  candle 
burned  in  the  room.  Harriet  sat  on  a  chair  in  her 
nightgown,  her  black  hair  hanging  about  her. 

"  I  told  him,"  she  said,  in  a  hollow  but  even  voice. 


Senator  North  243 

"  I  was  drunk  with  religion,  and  I  told  him.  I  did  n't 
come  to  my  senses  till  I  looked  up  —  I  was  on  the 
floor  —  and  saw  his  face.  He  has  gone  away." 

"What  did  he  say?" 

"  Nothing.     Not  a  word." 

She  drew  a  long  sigh.  "  I  'm  so  tired,"  she  said. 
"  I  reckon  I  '11  go  to  bed." 


XXIII 

FOR  four  days  they  had  no  word  from  Jack  Emory. 
Harriet  slept  late  on  the  first  day.  When  she  awoke 
she  was  an  intelligent  being  again,  and  strove  for  the 
controlled  demeanor  which  sjie  always  had  seemed  to 
feel  was  necessary  to  her  self-respect.  But  more  than 
once  she  let  Betty  see  how  nervous  and  terrified  she 
was. 

"  I  am  sure  he  will  come  back,"  she  said,  with  the 
emphasis  of  unadmitted  doubt.  "  Sure  !  He  adores 
me.  Of  course  he  would  not  have  married  me  if  he 
had  known,  but  that  is  done  and  cannot  be  undone. 
When  he  realizes  that,  he  will  come  back,  for  he  loves 
me.  We  are  bound  together  and  he  will  return  in 
time." 

Betty,  who  scarcely  left  her,  gave  her  what  en- 
couragement she  could.  Men  were  contradictory 
beings.  Jack  had  the  fanatical  pride  and  prejudices 
of  his  race,  but  he  was  in  love.  It  was  possible  that 
after  a  few  months  of  loneliness  in  his  old  house  he 
would  give  way  to  an  uncontrollable  longing  and  send 


244  Senator  North 

for  his  wife.  She  had  made  inquiries  at  the  railroad 
station,  and  ascertained  that  he  had  taken  a  ticket 
for  New  York.  Undoubtedly  he  had  gone  on  to 
Washington. 

She  reproached  herself  bitterly  for  having  slept  and 
allowed  Harriet  to  escape;  but  Harriet,  to  whom 
she  did  not  hesitate  to  express  herself,  shook  her 
head. 

"  You  could  not  have  stayed  awake  for  twenty-four 
hours,  and  I  should  have  found  a  chance  sooner  or 
later.  The  idea  came  to  me  up  there  while  I  was 
shouting  and  nearly  crazy  with  excitement  and  the 
excitement  of  all  those  half- mad  negroes  in  that  wild 
forest,  —  the  idea  came  to  me  that  I  must  tell  him, 
and  I  believed  that  it  came  straight  from  the  Lord. 
It  seemed  to  me  that  He  was  there  and  told  me  that 
was  my  only  hope,  —  to  tejl  him  myself  before  he  found 
it  out  from  your  mother  or  Miss  Trumbull.  The  idea 
never  left  me  for  a  minute ;  it  possessed  me.  I  was 
so  afraid  you  would  n't  have  waited  when  I  found  out 
I  was  late,  —  that  they  would  tell  him  before  I  got 
home.  But  I  wanted  to  tell  him  alone.  When  you 
ordered  me  not  to  leave  the  room,  I  felt  like  I  wanted 
to  do  anything  you  told  me,  but  when  I  found  you  'd 
gone  to  sleep,  I  felt  like  I  could  n't  wait  another  min- 
ute. I  crawled  out  of  the  window  and  went  to  him. 
And  perhaps  I  did  right.  I  can't  think  it  was  n't  an 
inspiration  to  confess  and  be  forgiven  before  he  found 
out  for  himself." 

Betty  was  in  the  living-room  with  Senator  North 
when  a  letter  from  Jack  Emory  was  brought  to  her. 
With  it,  also  bearing  the  Washington  postmark,  was 


Senator  North  245 

another,  directed  in  an  unfamiliar  and  illiterate  hand. 
Betty,  cold  with  apprehension,  tore  open  Emory's 
letter.  It  read  :  — 

DEAR  BETTY,  —  You  know,  of  course,  that  my  wife 
confessed  to  me  the  terrible  fact  that  she  has  negro  blood 
in  her  veins.  My  one  impulse  when  she  told  me  was 
to  get  back  to  my  home  like  a  beaten  dog  to  its  kennel. 
I  did  little  thinking  on  the  train;  whether  I  talked  to 
people  or  whether  I  was  too  stupefied  to  think,  I  cannot 
tell  you.  But  here  I  have  done  thinking  enough.  At 
first  I  hated,  I  loathed,  I  abhorred  her.  I  resolved  merely 
never  to  see  her  again,  to  ask  you  to  send  her  to  Europe 
as  quickly  as  possible,  to  threaten  her  with  exposure  and 
arrest  if  she  ever  returned.  But,  Betty,  although  I  have  not 
yet  forgiven  her,  although  the  thought  of  her  awful  hidden 
birthmark  still  fills  me  with  horror  and  disgust,  I  know  the 
weakness  of  man.  The  marriage  is  void  according  to  the 
laws  of  Virginia,  and  I  know  that  if  I  returned  to  her  she 
would  insist  upon  remarriage  in  a  Northern  State  —  and  I 
might  succumb.  And  rather  than  do  that,  rather  than  dis- 
honor my  blood,  rather  than  do  that  monstrous  wrong, 
not  only  to  my  family  but  to  the  South  that  has  my 
heart's  allegiance  —  as  passionate  an  allegiance  as  if  I 
had  fought  and  bled  on  her  battlefields  —  I  am  going  to 
kill  myself. ; 

Do  not  for  a  moment  imagine,  Betty,  that  I  hold  you  to 
account.  I  can  guess  why  you  did  not  warn  me  in  the 
beginning,  why  you  did  not  tell  me  when  it  was  too 
late.  Would  that  I  had  gone  on  to  the  end  faithful  to  my 
ideal  of  you!  My  lonely  years  in  this  old  house  were 
brightened  and  made  endurable  with  the  mere  thought  of 
you.  But  man  was  not  made  to  live  on  shadows,  and  I 
loved  again,  so  deeply  that  I  dare  not  trust  myself  to  live. 

I  send  her  only  one  message  —  she  must  drop  my  name. 
She  has  no  legal  title  to  it  according  to  the  laws  of  Virginia  ; 
the  marriage  would  be  declared  void  were  it  known  that 
she  had  black  blood  in  her.  I  would  spare  her  shame  and 


246  Senator  North 

exposure,  but  she  shall  not  bear  my  name,  and  it  is  my 
dying  request  that  you  use  any  means  to  make  her  drop  it. 
Good-bye.  JACK  EMORY. 

Betty  thrust  the  letter  into  Senator  North's  hand. 
"  Read  it !  "  she  said.  "  Read  it !  Oh,  do  you  sup- 
pose he  has  —  " 

Her  glance  fell  on  the  other  letter  and  she  opened 
it  with  heavy  fingers.  It  read  :  — 

Mis  BETTY,  —  Marse  Jack  done  shot  himself.  He  tole 
me  not  to  telegraf. 

Yours  truly,  JIM. 

Betty  stood  staring  at  Senator  North  as  he  read 
Jack's  letter.  When  he  had  finished  it,  she  handed 
him  the  other.  He  read  it,  then  took  her  cold  hands 
in  his. 

"  You  must  tell  her,"  he  said.  "  It  is  a  terrible 
trial  for  you,  but  you  must  do  it." 

"  Ah !  "  she  cried  sharply.  "  I  believe  you  are 
thinking  of  me  only,  not  of  that  poor  girl." 

"My  dear,"  he  said,  "that  poor  creature  was 
doomed  the  moment  she  entered  the  world.  No 
amount  of  sympathy,  no  amount  of  help  that  you  or 
I  could  give  her  would  alter  her  fate  one  jot.  For 
all  the  women  of  that  accursed  cross  of  black  and 
white  there  is  absolutely  no  hope  —  so  long  as  they 
live  in  this  country,  at  all  events.  They  almost  in- 
variably have  intelligence.  If  they  marry  negroes, 
they  are  humiliated.  If  they  pin  their  faith  to  the 
white  man,  they  become  outcasts  among  the  respectable 
Blacks  by  their  own  act,  as  the  act  of  others  has  made 
them  outcasts  among  the  Whites.  Their  one  com- 


Senator  North  247 

pensation  is  the  inordinate  conceit  which  most  of  them 
possess.  Do  not  think  I  am  heartless.  I  have  thought 
long  and  deeply  on  the  subject.  But  no  legislation 
can  reach  them,  and  the  American  character  will  have 
to  be  born  again  before  there  is  any  change  in  the 
social  law.  It  is  one  of  those  terrible  facts  of  life  that 
rise  isolated  above  the  so-called  problems.  If  Harriet 
lives  through  this,  she  will  fall  upon  other  miseries 
incidental  to  her  breed,  as  sure  as  there  is  life  about 
us,  for  she  has  the  seeds  of  many  crops  within  her. 
So  it  is  true  that  all  my  concern  is  for  you.  In 
a  way  I  helped  to  bring  this  on  you;  but  you  did 
what  was  right,  and  I  have  no  regrets.  And  you 
mus;t  think  of  me  as  always  beside  you,  not  only  ready 
to  help  you,  but  thinking  of  you  constantly." 

She  forgot  Harriet  for  the  moment.  "  Oh,  I  do," 
she  said,  "  I  do  !  I  wonder  what  strength  I  would 
have  had  through  this  if  you  had  not  been  behind  me." 

"  You  are  capable  of  a  great  deal,  but  no  woman 
is  strong  enough  to  stand  alone  long.  Send  for  Harriet 
to  come  here.  I  don't  wish  you  to  be  alone  with 
her  when  she  hears  this  news." 

Betty  rang  the  bell,  and  sent  a  servant  for  Harriet. 
She  put  Emory's  letter  in  her  pocket. 

"I  shall  not  give  her  that  terrible  message  of  his 
until  she  quite  has  got  over  the  shock  of  his  death," 
she  said.  "  Let  her  be  his  widow  for  a  little  while. 
Then  she  can  go  to  Europe  and  resume  her  own 
name.  She  soon  will  be  forgotten  here." 

Harriet  came  in  a  few  moments.  She  barely  had 
sat  down  since  she  had  risen  after  a  restless  night. 
But  she  had  refused  to  talk  even  to  Betty.  As  she 
entered  the  room  and  was  greeted  by  one  of  those 


248  Senator  North 

silences  with  which  the  mind  tells  its  worst  news,  she 
fell  back  against  the  door,  her  hands  clutching  at  her 
gown.  Betty  handed  her  the  servant's  letter. 

She  took  it  with  twitching  fingers,  and  read  it  as 
if  it  had  been  a  letter  of  many  pages.  Then  she 
extended  her  rigid  arms  until  she  looked  like  a  cross. 
"  Oh  !  "  she  articulated.  "  Oh  !  Oh  !  " 

But  in  a  moment  she  laughed.  "  I  don't  feel  sur- 
prised, somehow,"  she  said  sullenly.  "  I  suppose 
I  knew  all  along  he  'd  do  it.  Every  day  that  I  live 
I  '11  curse  your  unjust  and  murderous  race  while  other 
people  are  saying  their  prayers.  May  the  black  race 
overrun  the  world  and  taint  every  vein  of  blood  upon 
it.  For  me,  I  accept  my  destiny.  I  'm  a  pariah,  an 
outcast.  I'll  live  to  do  evil,  to  square  accounts  with 
the  race  that  has  made  me  what  I  am.  I  '11  go  back 
to  that  camp,  and  leave  it  with  whatever  negro  will 
have  me,  and  when  I  'm  so  degraded  I  don't  care 
for  anything,  I  '11  go  out  and  ruin  every  white  man 
I  can.  I  '11  keep  the  money  you  gave  me,  so  that  I  '11 
be  able  to  do  more  harm  —  " 

"  You  can  go,"  said  Betty,  "  but  not  yet.  You 
shall  go  with  me  first  and  bury  your  husband.  If  you 
attempt  to  escape  until  I  give  you  permission,  I  shall 
have  you  locked  up.  I  shall  take  two  menservants 
with  us.  Now  come  upstairs  with  me  and  pack  your 
portmanteau." 

She  slipped  her  hand  into  Senator  North's.  "  Good- 
bye," she  said  hurriedly.  "  I  shall  return  Friday  night. 
Please  come  over  Saturday  morning." 

Harriet  preceded  Betty  upstairs,  and  obeyed  her 
orders  sullenly.  Betty  locked  her  in  her  room,  and 
went  to  break  the  news  to  her  mother.  Mrs.  Madison 


Senator  North  249 

received  it  without  excitement,  remarking  among  her 
tears  that  it  was  one  of  the  denouements  she  had  im- 
agined, and  that  on  the  whole  it  was  the  best  thing  he 
could  have  done.  She  consented  to  go  with  her  maid 
to  the  hotel  till  Friday,  and  the  party  left  for  Washing- 
ton that  evening. 


XXIV 

THEY  returned  late  on  Friday  night.  As  Betty  had 
anticipated,  Harriet's  exhausted  body  had  not  harbored 
a  violent  spirit  for  long.  When  they  arrived  in  New 
York,  she  bought  herself  a  crape  veil  reaching  to  her 
toes,  and  when  she  entered  the  dilapidated  old  house 
where  her  husband  lay  dead,  she  began  to  weep  heavily. 
Her  tears  scarcely  ceased  to  flow  until  she  had  started 
on  her  way  to  the  mountains  again,  and,  hot  as  it  was, 
she  never  raised  her  veil  during  the  nine  hours'  train 
journey  from  New  York  to  the  lake,  except  to  eat  the 
food  that  Betty  forced  upon  her. 

Mrs.  Madison  had  returned,  and  Betty,  after  telling 
her  those  details  of  the  funeral  which  elderly  people 
always  wish  to  know,  went  to  her  room,  for  she  was 
tired  and  longed  for  sleep.  But  Harriet  entered  almost 
immediately  and  sat  down.  She  barely  had  spoken  since 
Monday ;  but  it  was  evident  that  she  was  ready  to  talk 
at  last,  and  Betty  stifled  a  yawn  and  sat  upon  the  edge 
of  her  bed.  Harriet  was  a  delicate  subject  and  must 
be  treated  with  vigilant  consideration,  except  at  those 
times  where  an  almost  brutal  firmness  was  necessary. 
She  looked  sad  and  haggard,  but  very  beautiful,  and 


250  Senator  North 

Betty  reflected  that  with  her  voice  she  might  begin  life 
over  again,  and  in  a  public  career  forget  her  brief 
attempt  at  happiness.  If  she  failed,  it  would  be  be- 
cause there  was  so  little  grip  in  her ;  Nature  had  been 
lavish  only  with  the  more  brilliant  endowments. 

"  Betty,"  she  began,  "  I  want  to  tell  you  that  I  'm 
sorry  I  said  those  dreadful  words  when  I  learned  he 
was  dead.  But  suspense  and  the  doubt  that  had  begun 
to  work  had  nearly  driven  me  crazy.  I  don't  mind 
saying,  though,  that  I  wish  I  had  kept  on  meaning 
them,  that  I  could  do  what  I  said  I  'd  do,  for  I  meant 
them  then  —  I  reckon  I  did  !  But  I  have  n't  any  back- 
bone, my  will  is  a  poor  miserable  weak  thing  that  takes 
a  spurt  and  then  fizzles  out.  And  I  'd  rather  be  good 
than  bad.  I  reckon  that  has  something  to  do  with  it. 
I  'd  have  gone  to  the  bad,  I  suppose,  if  you  had  n't 
taken  hold  of  me ;  I  'd  have  just  drifted  that  way, 
although  I  liked  teaching  Sunday-school,  and  I  liked 
to  feel  I  was  good  and  respectable  and  could  look 
down  on  people  that  were  no  better  than  they  should 
be.  And  now  that  I  Ve  been  living  with  such  respec- 
table and  high-toned  people  as  you  all  are,  I  don't 
think  I  could  stand  niggers  and  poor  white  trash 
again  —  " 

"  I  am  sure  you  will  be  good,"  interrupted  Betty, 
encouragingly.  "  And  you  owe  him  respect.  Don't 
forget  that,  and  make  allowances  for  him." 

"  Ah,  yes  ! "  Her  face  convulsed,  but  she  calmed 
herself  and  went  on.  "You  will  never  know  how  I 
loved  him.  I  was  proud  enough  of  the  name,  but  I 
worshipped  him  ;  and  he  killed  himself  to  get  rid  of 
me  !  Oh,  yes,  I  '11  make  allowances,  for  I  killed  him 
as  surely  as  if  I  had  pulled  that  trigger  —  " 


Senator  North  251 

"  Put  the  heavier  blame  on  those  that  went  before 
you,"  said  Betty,  with  intent  to  soothe.  "You  did 
wrong  in  deceiving  him,  but  helpless  women  should  be 
forgiven  much  that  they  do,  in  their  desperate  battle 
with  Circumstance.  Think  of  it  as  a  warning,  but  not 
as  a  crime.  "  Don't  let  anything  make  you  morbid. 
Life  is  full  of  pleasure.  Go  and  look  for  it,  and  put 
the  past  behind  you." 

Harriet  shook  her  head.  "  I  am  not  you,"  she  said. 
"  I  am  /.  And  I  feel  as  if  there  was  a  heavy  hand  on 
my  neck  pressing  me  down.  If  I  should  live  to  be  a 
toothless  old  woman,  I  should  never  feel  that  I  had 
any  right  to  be  happy  again.  Heaven  knows  what  I 
might  be  tempted  to  do,  but  I  should  laugh  at  myself 
for  a  fool,  all  the  same." 

The  color  rushed  over  her  face,  but  she  continued 
steadily :  "  There  's  something  else  I  must  tell  you 
before  I  can  sleep  to-night.  I  Ve  read  his  letter  to 
you.  I  knew  he  'd  written  it,  and  down  there  while 
you  were  asleep  I  took  it  out  of  your  pocket  and  read 
it.  It  was  I  who  suggested  going  over  to  Virginia,  for 
I  was  afraid  some  newspaper  would  get  hold  of  it  if  we 
were  married  in  Washington,  where  he  was  so  well 
known.  I  did  n't  know  there  was  such  a  law  in  Vir- 
ginia. So,  you  see,  the  Lord  was  on  his  side  a  little. 
I  don't  bear  his  name.  I  'm  as  much  of  an  outcast  as 
the  vengeance  of  a  wronged  man  could  wish  —  " 

"  I  am  sure  he  thought  of  you  kindly  at  the  last, 
and  I  never  shall  think  of  you  in  that  —  that  other 
way.  You  must  go  to  Europe  and  begin  life  over 
again." 

Harriet  rose  and  kissed  Betty  affectionately.  "  Good- 
night," she  said.  "  You  are  just  worn  out,  and  I  have 


252  Senator  North 

kept  you  up.  But  I  felt  I  wanted  to  tell  you  —  and 
that  no  matter  how  ungrateful  I  sometimes  appear  I 
always  love  you  ;  and  I  'd  rather  be  you  than  any  one 
in  the  world,  because  you  're  so  unlike  myself." 

Betty  went  with  her  to  the  door.  "  Go  to  sleep," 
she  said.  "  Don't  lie  awake  and  think." 

"Oh,  I'll  sleep,"  she  said.  "Don't  worry  about 
that." 


XXV 

BETTY  slept  late  on  the  following  morning,  but  arose  as 
soon  as  she  awoke  and  dressed  herself  hurriedly. 
Senator  North  was  an  early  visitor.  Doubtless  he  was 
waiting  for  her  on  the  verandah. 

She  ran  downstairs,  feeling  that  she  could  hum  a 
tune.  The  morning  was  radiant,  and  for  the  last  five 
days  it  had  seemed  to  her  that  the  atmosphere  was  as 
black  as  Harriet's  veil.  She  wanted  the  fresh  air  and 
the  sunshine,  the  lake  and  the  forest  'again.  She  wanted 
to  talk  for  long  hours  with  the  one  man  who  she  was 
sure  could  never  do  a  weak  or  cowardly  act.  She 
wanted  to  feel  that  her  heavy  responsibilities  were 
pushed  out  of  sight,  and  that  she  could  live  her  own 
life  for  a  little. 

She  almost  had  reached  the  front  door  when  a 
man  sprang  up  the  steps  and  through  it,  closing  it 
behind  him.  It  was  John,  the  butler,  and  his  face 
was  white. 

"  What  is  it?  "  she  managed  to  ask  him.  "  What  on 
earth  has  happened  now?  " 


Senator  North  253 

"It's  Miss  Walker,  Miss.  They  found  her  three 
hours  ago  —  on  the  lake.  The  coroner 's  been  here. 
They  're  bringing  her  in.  I  told  them  to  take  her  in 
the  side  door.  I  hoped  we'd  get  her  to  her  room 
before  you  come  down.  I  '11  attend  to  everything, 
Miss." 

Betty  heard  the  slow  tramp  of  feet  on  the  side  ve- 
randah. It  was  the  most  horrid  sound  she  ever  had 
heard,  and  she  wondered  if  she  should  cease  to  hear  it 
as  long  as  she  lived.  She  went  into  the  living-room 
and  covered  her  face  with  her  hands.  She  had  not 
cried  for  Jack  Emory,  but  she  cried  passionately  now. 
She  felt  utterly  miserable,  and  crushed  with  a  sense  of 
failure  ;  as  if  all  the  wretchedness  and  tragedy  of  the  past 
fortnight  were  her  own  making.  Two  lives  had  almost 
been  given  into  her  keeping,  and  in  spite  of  her  daring 
and  will  the  unseen  forces  had  conquered.  And  then 
she  wondered  if  the  water  had  been  very  cold,  and 
shivered  and  drew  herself  together.  And  it  must  have 
been  horribly  dark.  Harriet  was  afraid  of  the  dark, 
and  always  had  burned  a  taper  at  night. 

She  heard  Senator  North  come  up  the  front  steps 
and  knock.-  As  no  one  responded,  he  opened  the  door 
and  came  into  the  living-room. 

"  I  have  just  heard  that  she  has  drowned  herself," 
he  said  ;  and  if  there  was  a  note  of  relief  in  his  voice, 
Betty  did  not  hear  it.  She  ran  to  him  and  threw  her- 
self into  his  arms  and  clung  to  him. 

"You  said  you  would,"  she  sobbed.  "And  I  never 
shall  be  in  greater  grief  than  this.  I  feel  as  if  it  were 
all  my  fault,  as  if  I  were  a  terrible  failure,  as  if  I  had 
let  two  lives  slip  through  my  hands.  Oh,  poor  poor 
Harriet!  Why  are  some  women  ever  born?  What 


254  Senator  North 

terrible  purpose  was  she  made  to  live  twenty-four 
wretched  years  for?  You  wanted  me  to  become 
serious.  I  feel  as  if  I  never  could  smile  again." 

He  held  her  closely,  and  in  that  strong  warm  em- 
brace she  was  comforted  long  before  she  would  admit ; 
but  he  soothed  her  as  if  she  were  a  child,  and  he  did 
not  kiss  her. 


Ill 

The  Political  Sea  Turns  Red 


BETTY  MADISON  arrived  in  Washington  two  days  before 
Christmas,  with  the  sensation  of  having  lived  through 
several  life-times  since  Lady  Mary's  car  had  left  the 
Pennsylvania  station  on  the  fourteenth  of  March ;  she 
half  expected  to  see  several  new  public  buildings,  and 
she  found  herself  wondering  if  her  old  friends  were 
much  changed. 

People  capable  of  the  deepest  and  most  enduring 
impressions  often  receive  these  impressions  upon  ap- 
parently shallow  waters.  They  feel  the  blow,  but  it 
skims  the  surface  at  the  moment,  to  choose  its  place 
and  sink  slowly,  surely,  into  the  thinking  brain. 

Betty's  immediate  attitude  toward  the  tragic  fact  of 
Harriet's  death  was  almost  spectacular.  She  felt  her- 
self the  central  figure  in  a  thrilling  and  awful  drama, 
its  horror  stifling  for  a  moment  the  hope  that  the  man 
whose  footsteps  followed  closely  upon  that  tramping  of 
heavy  feet  would  fulfil  his  promise  and  take  her  in  his 
arms.  And  when  he  did  her  sense  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility left  her,  as  well  as  her  clearer  compre- 
hension of  what  had  happened  to  bring  about  this 
climax  so  long  and  so  ardently  desired. 

But  she  had  not  seen  Senator  North  since  the  day 
following  the  funeral.  Mrs.  Madison  had  announced 
with  emphasis  that  she  had  had  as  much  as  she  could 
stand  and  would  not  remain  another  day  in  the  Adi- 
rondacks ;  she  wanted  Narragansett  and  the  light  and 

17 


258  Senator  North 

agreeable  society  of  many  Southern  friends  who  did  not 
have  frequent  tragedies  in  their  families.  Betty  tele- 
graphed for  rooms  at  one  of  the  large  hotels  at  the 
Pier,  and  thereafter  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  her 
mother  gossip  contentedly  for  hours  with  other  ladies 
of  lineage  and  ante-bellum  reminiscences,  or  sit  with 
even  deeper  contentment  for  intermediate  hours  upon 
the  verandah  of  the  Casino.  When  she  herself  was 
bored  beyond  endurance,  she  crossed  the  bay  and 
lunched  or  dined  in  Newport,  where  she  had  many 
friends;  and  she  spent  much  time  on  horseback. 
When  the  season  was  over,  they  paid  a  round  of 
visits  to  country  houses,  and  finished  with  the  few 
weeks  in  New  York  necessary  for  the  replenishment 
of  Miss  Madison's  wardrobe.  She  had  hoped  to  reach 
Washington  for  the  opening  of  Congress,  but  her  mother 
had  been  ill,  prolonging  the  last  visit  a  fortnight,  and 
gowns  must  be  consulted  upon,  fitted  and  altered  did 
the  world  itself  stand  still.  And  this  was  the  one 
period  of  mental  rest  that  Betty  had  experienced 
since  her  parting  from  Senator  North. 

She  had  been  much  with  people  during  these  five 
months,  seeking  and  finding  little  solitude,  and  few  had 
found  any  change  in  her  beyond  a  deeper  shade  of  in- 
difference and  more  infrequent  flashes  of  humor.  She 
permitted  men  to  amuse  her  if  she  did  not  amuse  them, 
to  all  out- door  sports  she  was  faithful,  and  she  read  the 
new  books  and  talked  intelligently  of  the  fashions. 
When  the  conversation  swung  with  the  precision  of  a 
pendulum  from  clothes  and  love  to  war  with  Spain,  her 
mind  leapt  at  once  to  action,  and  she  argued  every  ad- 
vocate of  war  into  a  state  of  fury.  She  had  responded 
heavily  to  the  President's  appeal  in  behalf  of  the  re- 


Senator  North  259 

concentrados,  but  her  mind  was  no  longer  divided. 
The  failure  of  the  belligerency  resolutions  to  reach 
the  attention  of  the  House  during  the  Extra  Session 
of  Congress  had  rekindled  the  war  fever  in  the  country ; 
and  the  constant  chatter  about  the  suffering  Cuban 
and  the  duty  of  the  United  States,  the  black  iniquity 
of  the  Speaker  and  the  timidity  of  the  President,  were 
wearying  to  the  more  evenly  balanced  members  of  the 
community.  "You  say  that  we  need  a  war,"  said 
Betty  contemptuously  one  day,  "  that  it  will  shake  us 
up  and  do  us  good.  If  we  had  fallen  as  low  as  that,  no 
war  could  lift  us,  certainly  not  the  act  of  bullying  a 
small  country,  of  rushing  into  a  war  with  the  absolute 
certainty  of  success.  But  we  need  no  war.  Ameri- 
can manhood  is  where  it  always  has  been  and  always 
will  be  until  we  reach  that  pitch  of  universal  luxury 
and  sloth  and  vice  which  extinguished  Rome.  That 
commercial  and  financial  pursuits  should  make  a  man 
less  a  man  is  the  very  acme  of  absurdity.  If  our  men 
were  drawn  into  a  righteous  war  to-morrow  or  a  hun- 
dred years  hence,  they  would  fight  to  the  glory  of  their 
country  and  their  own  honor.  But  if  they  swagger 
out  to  whip  a  decrepit  and  wheezy  old  man,  when  the 
excitement  is  over  they  will  wish  that  the  whole  episode 
could  be  buried  in  oblivion.  And  I  would  be  willing 
to  wager  anything  you  like  that  if  this  war  does  come 
off,  so  false  is  its  sentiment  that  it  will  not  inspire  one 
great  patriotic  poem,  nor  even  one  of  merit,  and  that 
the  only  thing  you  will  accomplish  will  be  to  drag  Cuba 
from  the  relaxing  clutches  of  one  tyrant  and  fling  her 
to  a  horde  of  politicians  and  greedy  capitalists." 

But,  except  when  politics  possessed  it,  her  brain 
seldom  ceased,  no  matter  how  crowded  her  environ- 


26  o  Senator  North 

ment,  from  pondering  on  the  events  of  the  summer, 
and  pondering,  it  sobered  and  grew  older. 

She  had  engaged  in  a  conflict  with  the  Unseen 
Forces  of  life  and  been  conquered.  She  had  been 
obliged  to  stand  by  and  see  these  forces  work  their 
will  upon  a  helpless  being,  who  carried  in  solution  the 
vices  of  civilizations  and  men  persisting  to  their  logical 
climax,  almost  demanding  aloud  the  sacrifice  of  the  vic- 
tim to  death  that  this  portion  of  themselves  might  be 
buried  with  her.  Despite  her  intelligence,  nothing  else 
could  have  given  her  so  clear  a  realization  of  the  eter- 
nal persistence  of  all  acts,  of  the  sequential  symmetri- 
cal links  they  forge  in  the  great  chain  of  Circumstance. 
It  was  this  that  made  her  hope  more  eager  that  the 
United  States  would  be  guided  by  its  statesmen  and 
not  by  hysteria,  and  it  was  this  that  made  her  think 
deeply  and  constantly  upon  her  future  relation  with 
Senator  North. 

The  danger  was  as  great  as  ever.  Her  brain  had 
sobered,  but  her  heart  had  not.  Separation  and  the 
absence  of  all  communication  —  they  had  agreed  not 
to  correspond  —  had  strengthened  and  intensified  a  love 
that  had  been  half  quiescent  so  long  as  its  superficial 
wants  were  gratified.  Troubled  times  were  coming 
when  he  would  need  her,  would  seek  her  whenever 
he  could,  and  yet  when  their  meetings  must  be  short 
and  unsatisfactory.  When  hours  are  no  longer  pos- 
sible, minutes  become  precious,  and  the  more  precious 
the  more  dangerous.  If  she  were  older,  if  tragedy  and 
thought  had  sobered  and  matured  her  character,  if 
she  were  deprived  of  the  protection  of  the  lighter 
moods  of  her  mind,  would  not  the  danger  be  greater 
still?  The  childish  remnant  upon  which  she  had 


Senator  North  261 

instinctively  relied  had  gone  out  of  her,  she  had  a 
deeper  and  grimmer  knowledge  of  what  life  would  be 
without  the  man  who  had  conquered  her  through  her 
highest  ideals  and  most  imperious  needs ;  and  of  what 
it  would  be  with  him. 

She  had  no  intention  of  making  a  problem  out  of 
the  matter,  constantly  as  her  mind  dwelt  upon  the 
future.  Senator  North  had  told  her  once  that  prob- 
lems fled  when  the  time  for  action  began.  She  sup- 
posed that  one  of  two  things  would  happen  after  her 
return  to  Washington :  great  events  would  absorb  his 
mind  and  leave  him  with  neither  the  desire  nor  the 
time  for  more  than  an  occasional  friendly  hour  with 
her  j  or  after  a  conscientious  attempt  to  take  up  their 
relationship  on  the  old  lines  and  give  each  other  the 
companionship  both  needed,  all  intercourse  would 
abruptly  cease. 


II 


"  I  AM  going  to  have  my  salon,  or  at  all  events  the 
beginning  of  it,  at  once,"  said  Betty  to  Sally  Carter  on 
the  afternoon  of  her  arrival,  "  and  I  want  you  to  help 
me." 

"I  am  ready  for  any  change,"  said  Miss  Carter. 
Her  appearance  was  unaltered,  and  she  had  spoken  of 
Emory's  death  without  emotion.  Whether  she  had  put 
the  past  behind  her  with  the  philosophy  of  her  nature, 
or  whether  his  marriage  with  a  woman  for  whose  breed 
she  had  a  bitter  and  fastidious  contempt  had  killed  her 
love  before  his  death,  Betty  could  only  guess.  She 


262  Senator  North 

made  no  attempt  to  learn  the  truth.  Sally's  inner  life 
was  her  own ;  that  her  outer  was  unchanged  was 
enough  for  her  friends. 

"  I  am  going  to  give  a  dinner  to  thirty  people  on  the 
sixth  of  January.  Here  is  the  list.  You  will  see  that 
every  man  is  in  official  life.  There  are  eight  Senators, 
five  members  of  the  House,  the  British  Ambassador, 
and  the  Librarian  of  Congress.  Some  of  them  know 
my  desire  for  a  salon  and  are  ready  to  help  me.  I 
shall  talk  about  it  quite  freely.  In  these  days  you 
must  come  out  plainly  and  say  what  you  want.  If  you 
wait  to  be  too  subtle,  the  world  runs  by  you.  I  am 
determined  to  have  a  salon,  and  a  famous  one  at  that. 
This  is  an  ambitious  list,  but  half-way  methods  don't 
appeal  to  me." 

"  Nobody  ever  accused  you  of  an  affinity  for  the 
second  best,  my  dear;  but  you  may  thank  your 
three  stars  of  luck  for  providing  you  with  the  fortune 
and  position  to  achieve  your  ambitions :  beauty  and 
brains  alone  wouldn't  do  it.  Senator  North,"  she 
continued  from  the  list  in  her  hand  :  "  Mrs.  North  is 
wonderfully  improved,  by  the  way;  has  not  been  so 
well  in  twenty  years.  Senator  Burleigh  :  he  is  out  flat- 
footed  against  free  silver  since  the  failure  of  the  bi- 
metallic envoys,  and  his  State  is  furious.  Senator 
Shattuc  is  for  it,  so  they  probably  don't  speak.  Sena- 
tor Ward  might  be  induced  to  fall  in  love  with  Lady 
Mary  and  turn  his  eloquence  on  the  Senate  in  behalf 
of  a  marriage  between  Uncle  Sam  and  Britannia. 
There  is  no  knowing  what  your  salon  may  accomplish, 
and  that  would  be  a  sight  for  the  gods.  Senator  Max- 
well will  inveigh  in  twelve  languages  against  recognizing 
the  belligerency  of  the  Cubans.  Senator  Ffrench  will 


Senator  North  263 

supply  the  distinguished  literary  element.  Senator 
March  represents  the  conservative  Democrat  who  is 
too  good  for  the  present  depraved  condition  of  his 
State.  If  you  want  to  immortalize  yourself,  invent  a 
political  broom.  Senator  Eustis :  he  thinks  the  only 
fault  with  the  Senate  is  that  it  is  too  good-natured  and 
does  not  say  No  often  enough.  Who  are  the  Repre- 
sentatives ?  The  only  Speaker,  the  immortal  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  —  don't  place 
me  near  him,  for  I  Ve  just  paid  a  hideous  bill  at  the 
Custom  House  and  I  'd  scratch  his  eyes  out.  Mr. 
Montgomery :  he  and  Lady  Mary  are  getting  almost 
devoted.  Trust  a  clever  woman  to  pinch  the  memory 
of  any  other  woman  to  death.  The  redoubtable  Mr. 
Legrand,  also  of  Maine,  upon  whom  the  shafts  of  an 
embittered  minority  seem  to  fall  so  harmlessly;  and 
Mr.  Armstrong  —  who  is  he?  I  thought  I  knew  as 
much  about  politics  as  you,  by  this  time,  but  I  don't 
recall  his  name." 

"  I  met  him  at  Narragansett,  and  had  several  talks 
with  him.  He  is  a  Bryanite,  but  very  gentlemanly,  and 
his  convictions  were  so  strong  and  so  unquestionably 
genuine  that  he  interested  me.  I  want  the  best  of  all 
parties.  We  can't  sit  up  and  agree  with  each  other." 

"  Don't  let  that  worry  you,  darling.  Mr.  North  has 
been  contradicting  everybody  in  the  Senate  for  twenty 
years.  Your  devoted  Burleigh  quarrels  with  everybody 
but  yourself.  Mr.  Maxwell  snubs  everybody  who  pre- 
sumes to  disagree  with  him,  and  Ffrench  is  so  superior 
that  I  long  for  some  naughty  little  boys  to  give  him  a 
coat  of  pink  paint.  Your  salon  will  probably  fight  like 
cats.  If  the  war  cloud  gets  any  bigger,  your  mother 
will  go  to  bed  early  on  salon  nights  and  send  for  a 


264  Senator  North 

policeman.  I  look  forward  to  it  with  an  almost  pain- 
ful joy.  I  want  to  go  in  to  dinner  with  Mr.  March,  by 
the  way.  He  is  the  noblest-looking  man  in  Congress 
—  looks  like  what  the  statues  of  the  founders  of  the 
Republic  would  look  like  if  they  were  decently  done. 
I  '11  paint  the  menu  cards  for  you,  and  I  '11  wear  a  new 
gown  I  Ve  just  paid  ninety-three  dollars  duty  on  —  I 
certainly  shall  tear  out  the  eyes  of  'the  honorable 
gentleman  from  Maine.'  " 


III 

WHEN  Sally  had  gone,  after  an  hour  of  consultation  on 
the  various  phases  of  the  dinner,  Betty  sat  for  some 
moments  striving  to  call  up  something  from  the  depths 
of  her  brain,  something  that  had  smitten  it  disagree- 
ably as  it  fell,  but  sunk  too  quickly,  under  a  torrent  of 
words,  to  be  analyzed  at  the  moment.  It  had  made 
an  extremely  unpleasant  impression,  —  painful  perhaps 
would  be  a  better  word. 

In  the  course  of  ten  minutes  she  found  the  sentence 
which  had  made  the  impression :  "  Mrs.  North  is  won- 
derfully improved,  by  the  way ;  has  not  been  so  well  in 
twenty  years." 

The  words  seemed  to  hang  themselves  up  in  a  row 
in  her  mind ;  they  turned  scarlet  and  rattled  loudly. 
Betty  made  no  attempt  to  veil  her  mental  vision  •  she 
stared  hard  at  the  words  and  at  the  impression  they 
had  produced.  Mrs.  North  was  out  of  danger,  and 
the  fact  was  a  bitter  disappointment  to  her.  In  spite 
of  the  resolute  expulsion  of  the  very  shadow  of  Mrs. 


Senator  North  265 

North  from  her  thought,  her  sub-consciousness  had 
conceived  and  brought  forth  and  nurtured  hope. 
What  had  made  her  content  to  drift,  what  had  made 
her  look  with  an  almost  philosophical  eye  on  the 
future,  was  the  unadmitted  certainty  that  in  the 
natural  course  of  events  a  woman  with  a  shattered 
constitution  must  go  her  way  and  leave  her  husband 
free.  Had  he  thought  of  this?  He  must  have,  she 
concluded.  She  was  beginning  to  look  facts  squarely 
in  the  face ;  it  was  an  old  habit  with  him,  older  than 
herself.  There  never  was  a  more  practical  brain. 

For  the  first  time  in  her  life  she  almost  hated 
herself.  She  had  done  and  felt  many  things  which 
she  sincerely  regretted,  but  this  seemed  incomparably 
the  worst.  And  despite  her  protest,  her  bitter  self- 
contempt,  the  sting  of  disappointment  remained ;  she 
could  not  extract  it. 

She  went  out  and  walked  several  miles,  as  she 
always  did  when  nervous  and  troubled.  She  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  she  was  glad  to  have  heard 
this  news  to-day.  She  and  Senator  North  were  to 
meet  in  the  evening  for  the  first  time  in  five  months. 
She  had  looked  forward  to  this  meeting  with  such  a 
mingling  of  delight  and  terror  that  several  times  she  had 
been  on  the  point  of  sending  him  word  not  to  come. 
But  the  impression  Sally's  information  had  made  had 
hardened  her.  She  was  so  disappointed  in  herself,  so 
humiliated  to  find  that  a  mortal  may  fancy  himself 
treading  the  upper  altitudes,  only  to  discover  that  the 
baser  forces  in  the  brain  are  working  independently  of 
the  will,  that  she  felt  in  anything  but  a  melting  mood. 
She  knew  that  this  mood  would  pass ;  she  had  watched 
the  workings  of  the  brain,  its  abrupt  transitions  and 


266  Senator  North 

its  reactions,  too  long  to  hope  that  she  suddenly  had 
acquired  great  and  enduring  strength.  The  future 
had  not  expelled  one  jot  of  its  dangers,  perhaps 
had  supplemented  them,  but  for  the  hour  she  not 
only  was  safe  from  herself,  but  the  necessity  to  turn 
him  from  her  door  had  receded  one  step. 

She  had  intended  to  receive  him  in  the  large  and 
formal  environment  of  the  parlor,  but  in  her  present 
mood  the  boudoir  was  safe,  and  she  was  glad  not  to 
disappoint  him ;  she  knew  that  he  loved  the  room. 
And  if  her  brain  had  sobered,  her  femininity  would 
endure  unaltered  for  ever.  She  wore  a  charming  new 
gown  of  white  crepe  de  chine  flowing  over  a  blue 
petticoat,  and  a  twist  of  blue  in  her  hair.  She  had 
written  to  him  from  New  York  when  to  call,  and  he 
had  sent  a  large  box  of  lilies  of  the  valley  to  greet 
her.  She  had  arranged  them  in  a  bowl,  and  wore  only 
a  spray  at  her  throat.  Women  with  beautiful  figures 
seldom  care  for  the  erratic  lines  and  curves  of  the 
floral  decoration. 

She  heard  him  coming  down  the  corridor  and 
caught  her  breath,  but  that  was  all.  She  did  not 
tremble  nor  change  color. 

When  he  came  in,  he  took  both  her  hands  and 
looked  at  her  steadily  for  a  moment.  They  made  no 
attempt  at  formal  greeting,  and  there  was  no  need  of 
subterfuge  of  any  sort  between  them.  No  two  mortals 
ever  understood  each  other  better. 

"  I  see  the  change  in  you,"  he  said.  "  I  expected 
it.  You  have  given  me  a  great  deal,  and  your  last 
survival  of  childhood  was  not  the  least.  The  serious 
element  has  developed  itself,  and  you  look  the 
embodiment  of  an  Ideal." 


Senator  North  267 

He  dropped  her  hands  and  walked  to  the  end  of 
the  room.  When  he  returned  and  threw  himself  into 
a  chair,  she  knew  that  his  face  had  changed,  then 
been  ordered  under  control. 

"What  shall  I  talk  to  you  about?"  he  asked  with 
an  almost  nervous  laugh.  "Politics?  Comparatively 
little  happened  in  the  Senate  before  the  holidays. 
The  President's  message  was  of  peculiar  interest  to 
me,  inasmuch  as  it  indicated  that  he  is  approaching 
Spain  in  the  right  way  and  will  succeed  in  both  reliev- 
ing the  Cubans  and  averting  war  if  the  fire-eaters 
will  let  him  alone.  The  Cubans  probably  will  not 
listen  to  the  offer  of  autonomy,  for  it  comes  several 
years  too  late  and  their  confidence  in  Spain  has  gone 
forever;  but  I  am  hoping  that  while  this  country  is 
waiting  to  see  the  result,  it  will  come  to  its  senses. 
The  pressure  upon  us  has  been  intolerable.  Both 
Houses  have  been  flooded  with  petitions  and  memorials 
by  the  thousands :  from  Legislatures,  Chambers  of 
Commerce,  Societies,  Churches,  from  associations  of 
every  sort,  and  from  perhaps  a  million  citizens.  The 
Capitol  looks  like  a  paper  factory.  If  autonomy  fails 
soon  enough,  or  if  some  new  chapter  of  horrors  can 
be  concocted  by  the  Yellow  Press,  or  if  the  unforeseen 
happens,  war  will  come.  The  average  Congressman 
and  even  Senator  does  not  resist  the  determined  pres- 
sure of  his  constituents,  and  to  do  them  justice  they 
have  talked  themselves  into  believing  that  they  are  as 
excited  as  the  idle  minds  at  home  who  are  feeling 
dramatic  and  calling  it  sympathy.  And  the  average 
mind  hates  to  be  on  the  unpopular  side. 

"  Forgive  me  if  I  am  bitter,"  he  said,  standing  up 
suddenly  and  looking  down  on  her  with  a  smile,  "  but 


268  Senator  North 

a  good  many  of  us  are,  just  now.  We  can't  help  it. 
A  great  and  just  war  would  be  met  unflinchingly  and 
with  all  pride ;  but  the  prospect  of  this  hysterical  row 
between  a  bull  pup  and  a  senile  terrier  fills  us  with 
impatience  and  disgust.  The  President  must  feel  that 
he  is  expiating  all  the  sins  of  the  human  race.  The 
only  man  in  the  United  States  to  be  envied,  so  far,  is 
the  Speaker  of  the  House ;  it  is  almost  a  satisfaction 
to  think  that  he  looks  like  the  monument  he  is ;  and 
for  the  time  being  his  importance  overshadows  the 
President's.  If  the  President  can  hold  on,  however, 
he  will  negotiate  Spain  out  of  this  hemisphere  in  less 
than  a  year." 

"  I  knew  you  were  worried  about  it,"  she  said  softly. 
"  I  felt  that  so  keenly  that  I  never  lost  an  opportunity 
to  war  against  the  war.  I  made  enemies  right  and 
left,  and  acquired  a  reputation  for  heartlessness." 

"  Our  minds  are  much  alike,"  he  said,  staring  down 
at  her  and  dropping  his  voice  for  a  moment.  "  You 
may  have  done  it  for  me,  but  you  are  as  sincere  as  I 
am.  I  have  stimulated  your  mind,  that  is  all.  How 
much  you  can  do  here  in  Washington  —  among  the 
men  who  legislate  —  I  cannot  say.  A  woman  who 
takes  a  high  and  definite  stand  is  always  an  influence 
for  good ;  but  the  women  who  influence  men's  votes 
are  not  of  your  type.  They  are  women  who  sacri- 
fice anything  to  gain  their  ends,  or  those  who  have 
educated  themselves  to  play  upon  the  vanity  and  other 
petty  qualities  of  men ;  every  peg  in  their  brain  is 
hung  with  a  political  trick.  The  only  men  who  at- 
tract you  are  too  strong  to  vote  under  the  influence  of 
any  woman,  even  if  they  loved  her.  If  Shattuc  were 
not  as  obstinate  as  a  mule,"  he  added  more  lightly, 


Senator  North  269 

"  I  should  ask  you  to  convert  him  to  the  principles  of 
sound  currency.  That  is  another  ugly  cloud  ahead : 
there  is  going  to  be  an  attempt  made  to  pass  through 
both  Houses  a  concurrent  resolution  advocating  the 
free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  and  to  pay  the 
public  debt  with  it.  As  far  as  our  honor  goes,  the 
passing  of  such  a  resolution  would  affect  us  as  deeply 
as  if  it  were  to  become  a  law.  We  should  stand  be- 
fore the  world  as  willing  and  ready  to  violate  the 
national  honor,  ignore  our  pledges  and  recklessly  im- 
pair our  credit.  I  don't  think  the  resolution  will  pass 
the  House,  the  Republican  majority  is  too  strong  there, 
but  I  am  afraid  it  will  pass  the  Senate ;  although  we 
are  in  the  majority,  a  good  many  Republicans  are 
Western  men  and  Silverites.  A  certain  number  on 
both  sides  of  the  Chamber  are  voting  merely  to  please 
their  constituents,  feeling  reasonably  sure  that  the 
resolution  will  fail  in  the  House.  They  appear  to 
care  little  for  the  honor  of  the  Senate ;  they  certainly 
have  not  the  backbone  to  defy  their  constituents  if  they 
do  care  for  it.  To  the  outside  world  the  Senate  is  a 
unit ;  every  resolution  that  passes  it  might  come  out 
of  one  gigantic  skull  at  peace  with  itself.  This  one 
will  be  passed  by  a  small  majority  who  have  not 
imagination  enough  to  read  the  works  of  future  his- 
torians, nor  even  to  grasp  public  opinion  as  unex- 
pressed by  their  constituents. 

"There  is  one  fact  that  the  second-rate  politician 
never  grasps,"  he  said,  walking  impatiently  up  and 
down  ;  Betty  had  never  seen  him  so  restless.  "  That 
is,  that  the  true  American  respects  convictions;  no 
matter  how  many  fads  he  may  conceive  nor  how  loud 
he  may  clamor  for  their  indulgence,  when  his  mind 


270  Senator  North 

begins  to  balance  methodically  again,  he  respects  the 
man  who  told  him  he  was  wrong  and  imperilled  his 
own  re-election  rather  than  vote  against  his  convictions. 
Many  a  Senator  has  lost  re-election  through  yielding  to 
pressure,  for  elections  do  not  always  occur  at  the  height 
of  a  popular  agitation ;  and  when  men  have  had  time 
to  cool  off  and  think,  they  despise  and  distrust  the 
waverer.  If  you  will  read  the  biographies  in  the 
Congressional  Directory,  you  will  see  that  with  a  very 
few  exceptions  the  New  Englanders  are  the  only  men 
who  come  back  here  —  to  both  Houses  —  term  after 
term.  They  practically  are  here  for  life ;  and  the 
reason  is  that  they  belong  to  the  same  hard-headed, 
clear-thinking,  unyielding,  and  puritanically  upright 
race  as  the  men  who  elect  them  to  office.  They 
have  their  faults,  but  they  represent  the  iron  backbone 
of  this  country,  and  in  spite  of  fads  and  aberrations, 
and  gales  in  general  on  the  political  sea,  they  will 
remain  the  prevailing  influence.  If  I  speak  seldom  in 
the  Senate,  I  certainly  make  a  good  many  speeches  to 
you.  But  I  want  you  to  understand  all  I  can  teach 
you  and  to  do  what  you  can." 

"  Yes,"  she  said,  rising  abruptly,  "  I  want  an  object  in 
life,  a  vital  interest.  I  need  it !  A  year  ago  I  took 
up  politics  out  of  curiosity  and  ennui ;  to-day  they 
represent  a  safeguard  as  well  as  a  necessity.  I  cannot 
write  books  nor  paint  pictures ;  charities  bore  me  and 
I  never  shall  marry.  My  heart  must  go  to  the  wall, 
and  my  brain  is  very  active.  The  more  one  studies 
and  observes  politics  the  more  absorbing  they  become. 
But  that  is  only  a  part  of  it.  I  want  to  be  of  some  use 
to  the  country,  to  accomplish  something  for  the  public 
good ;  and  it  will  be  a  form  of  happiness  to  think  that 


Senator  North  271 

I  am  working  with  you  —  for  I  certainly  agree  with 
you  in  all  things,  whatever  the  cause.  When  the  time 
comes  that  we  meet  in  public  only,  I  can  have  that 
much  happiness  at  least;  and  I  always  shall  know 
where  I  can  help  you — " 

"  The  mere  fact  that  you  are  alive  is  help  enough 
—  and  torment  enough.  I  shall  go  now.  We  have 
gotten  through  this  first  meeting  better  than  I  had 
hoped." 

They  both  laughed  a  little  as  they  shook  hands,  for 
politics  had  cleared  the  air. 


IV 


HE  came  in  again  on  Sunday,  but  Burleigh  and  othei 
men  were  there ;  and  as  the  Senate  had  adjourned 
until  the  fifth,  there  was  no  excuse  for  him  to  call  at 
the  late  hour  when  she  was  sure  to  be  alone  ;  so  he 
dropped  in  twice  to  luncheon,  and  they  went  for  a  long 
walk  in  Rock  Creek  Park  afterward.  On  one  of  these 
occasions  Sally  Carter  joined  them  ;  and  on  the  other, 
although  but  for  the  occasional  passer-by  they  were 
alone  for  two  hours  in  the  wild  beauty  of  rocky  gorges 
and  winter  woods,  they  talked  of  war  and  Spain.  He 
left  her  at  the  door. 

On  Thursday  night  she  was  to  have  her  dinner,  and 
in  spite  of  her  stormy  inner  life  she  felt  a  pleasurable 
nervousness  as  the  hour  approached ;  for  on  its  results 
depended  the  color  of  her  future.  With  love  or  with- 
out it  she  had  to  live  on,  and  if  she  could  see  the  way 
to  serve  her  country,  to  preserve  some  of  its  higher 


2J2  Senator  North 

ideals  as  well  as  to  win  a  distinguished  position,  she 
had  no  doubt  that  in  time  she  should  find  resignation. 

All  her  invitations  but  one  had  been  accepted  :  the 
British  Ambassador  was  attending  a  diplomatic  dinner, 
but  would  come  in  later.  Betty  was  not  altogether 
regretful,  for  the  question  of  precedence,  with  all  her 
personages,  was  sufficiently  complicated.  The  Speaker 
ranked  the  Senators,  but  there  were  eight  Senators  to 
be  disposed  of  with  tact;  they  might  overlook  a 
mistake,  but  their  wives  or  daughters  would  not. 

She  had  spared  no  pains  to  honor  her  guests.  She 
still  scorned  the  plutocratic  multiplication  of  flowers 
until  they  seemed  to  rattle  like  the  dollars  they  stood 
for,  but  the  table  looked  very  beautiful,  and  the  silver 
and  china  and  crystal  had  endured  through  several 
generations.  Some  of  it  had  been  used  in  the  White 
House  in  the  days  when  it  was  an  honor  to  have  a 
President  in  one's  family.  Her  father's  wine-cellar 
had  been  celebrated,  and  she  had  employed  connois- 
seurs in  its  replenishment  ever  since  the  duties  of 
entertaining  had  devolved  upon  her.  She  also  had  her 
own  chef,  and  knew  with  what  satisfaction  he  filled  the 
culinary  brain-cells  of  the  patient  diner  out  in  Wash- 
ington. All  the  lower  house  was  softly  lit  with  candles ; 
except  her  boudoir,  which  was  dark  and  locked. 

She  wore  a  gown  of  apple-green  satin  which  looked 
simple  and  was  not.  Mrs.  Madison  was  like  an  ex- 
quisite miniature,  in  satin  of  a  pinkish  gray  hue, 
trimmed  with  much  Alencon,  a  collar  of  diamonds,  and 
a  pink  spray  in  her  soft  white  hair.  Her  blue  eyes  were 
very  bright,  and  there  was  a  pink  color  in  her  cheeks, 
but  she  looked  better  than  she  felt.  She  was,  indeed, 
hot  and  cold  by  turns,  and  she  held  herself  with  a 


Senator  North  273 


majesty  of  mien  which  only  a  tiny  woman  can 
accomplish. 

Sally  Carter  was  the  first  to  arrive,  and  looked  re- 
markably well  in  her  black  velvet  of  Custom  House 
indignities.  The  Montgomerys  followed,  and  Lady 
Mary  wore  the  azure  and  white  in  which  she  appeared 
harmless  and  undiplomatic.  No  one  was  more  than 
ten  minutes  late,  and  at  eight  o'clock  the  party  was 
seated  about  the  great  round  table  in  the  dining- 
room. 

Senator  North  sat  on  Betty's  right,  Senator  Ward  on 
her  left.  Next  to  that  astute  diplomatist  was  the  lady 
in  azure  and  white,  whom  he  admired  profoundly  and 
understood  thoroughly.  She  never  knew  the  latter 
half  of  his  attitude,  however.  He  was  a  gallant  Amer- 
ican, and  delighted  to  indulge  a  pretty  woman  in  her 
fads  and  ambitions.  Mrs.  Madison  achieved  resigna- 
tion between  the  Speaker  of  the  House  and  Senator 
Maxwell,  and  Sally  Carter  was  paired  with  Senator 
March. 

Betty  had  meditated  several  hours  over  the  placing 
of  her  guests,  and  had  invited  as  many  pretty  and 
charming  women  as  the  matrimonial  entanglements  of 
her  statesmen  would  permit.  Fortunately  it  was  early 
in  the  year,  and  a  number  of  wives  had  tarried  behind 
their  husbands.  The  family  portraits  on  the  dark  old 
walls  had  not  looked  down  upon  so  brilliant  a  gathering 
for  half  a  century,  and  Betty's  eyes  sparkled  and  she 
lifted  her  head,  her  nostrils  dilating.  The  light  in  her 
inner  life  burned  low,  and  her  brain  was  luminous  with 
the  excitement  of  the  hour.  And  as  he  was  beside  her, 
there  really  was  no  cause  for  repining. 

At  once  the  talk  was  all  of  war.  Washington,  like 
18 


274  Senator  North 

the  rest  of  the  country,  did  not  rise  to  its  highest 
pitch  of  excitement  until  after  the  destruction  of  the 
Maine,  but  no  other  subject  could  hold  its  interest  for 
long.  In  ordinary  conditions  politics  are  barely  men- 
tioned when  the  most  political  city  in  the  world  is  in 
evening  dress,  but  war  is  a  microbe. 

"  I  am  for  it,"  announced  Lady  Mary,  "if  only  to 
give  you  a  chance  to  find  out  who  your  friends  are." 

"  There  is  nothing  in  the  history  of  human  nature 
or  of  nations  to  disprove  that  our  friends  of  to-day 
may  be  our  enemies  of  to-morrow,"  observed  Senator 
North. 

"  I  believe  you  hate  England." 

"  On  the  contrary,  I  am  probably  the  best  friend  she 
has  in  the  Senate.  My  mission  is  to  forestall  the  hate 
which  leads  so  many  ardent  but  ill-mated  couples  into 
the  divorce  courts." 

"  Well,  you  will  see,"  said  Lady  Mary,  mysteriously. 

"  I  do  not  doubt  it,"  said  Senator  North,  smiling. 
"  And  we  shall  be  grateful.  If  the  circumstances  ever 
are  reversed,  we  shall  do  as  much  for  her." 

"How  much?" 

"  That  will  depend  upon  the  quality  of  statesman- 
ship in  both  Houses." 

"  I  wish  you  would  explain  what  you  mean  by  that." 
Lady  Mary's  wide  voice  was  too  well  trained  to 
sharpen.  Her  cold  blue  eyes  wore  the  dreamy  ex- 
pression of  their  most  active  moments. 

"  I  wish  I  knew  whether  the  statesmen  of  the  future 
were  to  be  Populists  or  Republicans." 

"  Well,  whatever  you  mean  you  have  no  sentiment." 

"  I  have  no  sentimentalism." 

Lady  Mary  shrugged  her  shoulders  and  turned  to 


Senator  North  275 

Senator  Ward.  She  knew  better  than  to  talk  politics 
to  him  before  dinner  was  two  thirds  over,  but  she  bent 
her  pretty  head  to  him,  and  gave  him  her  distinguished 
attentions  while  he  reinvigorated  his  weary  brain.  He 
smiled  encouragingly. 

"The  statesmen  of  the  future  will  be  Populists, 
Senator,"  announced  Betty's  last  recruit,  a  man  with  a 
keen  sharply  cut  face  and  a  slightly  nasal  though  not 
displeasing  voice.  He  was  forty  and  looked  thirty. 

"  The  Populist  will  have  called  himself  so  many 
things  by  that  time  that  '  statesman '  will  do  as  well 
as  any  other,"  growled  the  Speaker.  " '  The  States- 
men's Party  '  would  sound  well,  and  would  be  worthy  of 
the  noble  pretensions  of  your  leader." 

"  Well,  they  are  noble,"  said  Armstrong  tartly,  but 
glad  of  the  opportunity  to  talk  back  to  the  personage 
who  treated  him  in  the  House  as  a  Czar  treats  a 
minion.  "We  are  the  only  party  that  is  ready  to 
cling  to  the  Constitution  as  if  it  were  the  rock  of 
ages." 

"  Well,  you  Ve  clung  so  hard  you  Ve  turned  it  up- 
side down,  and  the  new  inventions  and  patent  im- 
provements you  Ve  stuccoed  it  with  will  do  for  the 
'  Statesmen's  Party,'  but  not  for  the  United  States  — 
Madam?  " 

Mrs.  Madison  had  touched  his  arm  timidly,  and 
asked  him  if  he  liked  terrapin.  Her  color  was 
deeper,  but  she  exerted  herself  to  keep  the  attention 
of  this  huge  personality  whom  a  poor  worm  might  be 
tempted  to  assassinate. 

Senator  Burleigh's  voice  rose  above  the  chatter. 
"Who  would  be  a  Western  Senator?"  he  said  plain- 
tively. "  My  colleague  and  I  received  a  document 


276  Senator  North 

to- day,  signed  by  two  thousand  of  our  constituents, 
the  entire  population  of  an  obscure  but  determined 
town,  in  which  we  were  ordered  to  acknowledge  the 
belligerency  of  the  Cubans  at  once  or  expect  to  be 
tarred  and  feathered  upon  our  return.  The  climate 
of  my  State  is  excellent  for  consumption,  but  bad  for 
nerves.  Doubtless  most  of  these  men  come  of  good 
New  England  stock,  whose  relatives  '  back  East '  would 
never  think  of  doing  such  a  thing ;  but  the  intoxicating 
climate  they  have  been  inhaling  for  half  a  generation, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  raw  conditions,  makes  them  want 
to  fight  creation." 

Senator  Maxwell,  who  had  more  of  the  restlessness 
of  youth  than  the  repose  of  age,  threw  back  his  silver 
head  and  gave  his  little  irritated  laugh.  "That  is  it," 
he  said.  "  It  is  the  lust  of  blood  that  possesses  the 
United  States.  They  don't  know  it.  They  call  it 
sympathy ;  but  their  blood  is  aching  for  a  fight,  so 
that  they  can  read  the  exciting  horrors  of  it  in  the 
newspapers.  You  might  as  well  reason  with  mad 
dogs." 

"  I  shall  not  attempt  to  reason  with  my  kennel," 
said  Burleigh.  "  In  the  present  congested  state  of  the 
mails  this  particular  memorial  has  gone  astray." 

"The  trials  of  a  Senator!"  cried  Sally  Carter. 
"Petitions  and  lobbyists,  election  clouds,  fractious 
and  dishonest  legislatures,  unprincipled  bosses  and 
the  country  gone  mad  !  " 

"I  can  give  you  a  list  as  long  as  my  arm,"  said 
Senator  March,  grimly;  "and  you  may  believe  it  or 
not,  but  it  is  all  I  can  do  to  walk  in  my  Committee- 
room  and  I  have  n't  a  chair  to  sit  on.  I  live  under  a 
snow-storm  of  petitions,  memorials,  and  resolutions.  I 


Senator  North  277 

expect  to  see  them  come  flying  through  the  window, 
and  I  dream  of  nothing  else." 

Betty  had  taken  part  in  the  general  conversation  un- 
til the  last  few  moments,  but  as  it  concentrated  on  the 
subject  of  Cuban  autonomy  and  her  guests  ceased  to 
appeal  to  her,  she  fell  into  conversation  with  Senator 
North,  who  she  knew  would  be  willing  to  dispense 
with  politics  for  a  few  moments. 

"You  have  no  idea  how  I  miss  Jack  Emory,"  she 
said.  "  He  half  lived  with  us,  you  know,  and  I  am 
always  expecting  to  meet  him  in  the  hall.  When  I 
was  writing  my  invitations  I  caught  myself  beginning  a 
note,  '  Dear  Jack.'  It  is  uncanny." 

"  It  is  the  only  revenge  the  dead  have ;  and  doubt- 
less it  is  this  vivid  after  life  of  theirs  in  memory  that 
is  at  the  root  of  the  belief  in  ghosts.  You  say  that  you 
are  going  to  open  your  salon  every  year  with  a  dinner 
to  the  original  members.  It  will  be  interesting  to 
watch  the  two  faces  in  some  of  the  seats  —  if  you  at- 
tempt to  fill  the  vacant  chairs." 

Betty  pressed  her  handkerchief  against  her  lips,  for 
she  knew  they  had  turned  white.  She  was  but  twenty- 
eight,  and  if  her  salon  was  the  success  it  promised  to  be 
she  would  sit  at  the  head  of  this  table  for  twenty-eight 
years  to  come,  and  then  have  compassed  fewer  years 
than  the  man  beside  her.  She  had  refused  resolutely 
to  permit  her  thought  to  dwell  on  the  tragic  difference 
in  their  ages,  a  difference  that  had  no  meaning  now, 
but  would  symbolize  death  and  desolation  hereafter ; 
but  her  mind  had  moments  of  abrupt  insight  that  no 
Will  could  conquer,  and  not  long  since  she  had  gasped 
and  covered  her  face  with  her  hands. 

"That   was    brutal    of    me,"    he     said     hurriedly, 


278  Senator  North 

"  Your  dinner  is  the  brilliant  success  that  it  deserves 
to  be,  and  you  should  be  permitted  to  be  entirely 
happy.  There  is  not  a  bored  face,  and  if  they  are  all 
jabbering  about  the  everlasting  subject,  so  much  the  bet- 
ter for  you.  It  gives  your  salon  its  political  character 
at  once ;  you  would  have  had  a  hard  time  getting  them 
to  begin  on  bimetallism  and  the  census  —  perish  the 
thought !  Ward  is  now  making  Lady  Mary  think  that 
she  is  a  greater  diplomatist  than  himself.  Maxwell  and 
the  Speaker  are  wrangling  across  your  mother,  who  looks 
alarmed  ;  Burleigh  is  flirting  desperately  with  Miss  Alice 
Maxwell,  who  is  purring  upon  his  senatorial  vanity; 
your  Populist  is  breaking  out  into  the  turgid  rhetoric  of 
Mr.  Bryan ;  Ffrench  has  persuaded  that  charming  Eng- 
lish girl  that  he  is  the  most  literary  man  in  America, 
and  Miss  Carter  is  condoling  with  March  about  an  un- 
grateful State.  So  be  happy,  my  darling,  be  happy." 

His  voice  had  dropped  suddenly.  She  made  an  in- 
voluntary movement  toward  him. 

"  I  am,"  she  said  below  her  breath.  "  I  am."  She 
added  in  a  moment,  "  Will  you  always  come  to  my 
Thursday  evenings,  no  matter  what  happens?" 

"Always." 

He  had  turned  slightly,  and  one  hand  was  on  his 
knee.  She  slipped  hers  into  it  recklessly ;  they  were 
safe  in  the  crowd,  and  her  hand  ached  for  his.  It 
ached  from  the  grasp  it  received,  for  he  was  a  man 
whose  self-control  was  absolute  or  non-existent.  But 
she  clung  to  him  as  long  as  she  dared,  and  when  she 
withdrew  her  hand  she  sought  for  distraction  in  her 
company. 

It  looked  as  gay  and  happy  as  if  war  had  been  in- 
vented to  animate  conversation  and  make  a  bored 


Senator  North  279 

people  feel  dramatic.  Death  was  close  upon  the 
heels  of  two  of  the  distinguished  men  present ;  but 
even  though  the  eyes  of  the  soul  be  raised  everlastingly 
to  the  world  above,  they  are  blind  to  the  portal.  The 
busy  member  who  had  incurred  Miss  Carter's  disap- 
proval and  the  brilliant  Librarian  of  Congress  were 
among  the  liveliest  at  the  feast. 

It  was  Senator  Ward  at  one  end  of  the  table  and 
Burleigh  at  the  other,  who  finally  started  the  topic  of 
Miss  Madison's  intended  salon,  not  only  that  those  un- 
acquainted with  her  ambition  might  be  enlightened, 
but  that  the  great  intention  should  receive  a  concrete 
form  without  further  delay.  A  half-hour  later,  when  the 
women  left  the  table,  Betty  had  the  satisfaction  of  know- 
ing that  whatever  the  final  result  of  her  venture,  her 
stand  was  as  fully  recognized  as  if  she  had  written  a 
book  and  found  a  publisher  and  critics  to  advertise 
her. 


BETTY  went  to  the  Senate  Gallery  on  the  following 
day  at  the  request  of  Armstrong,  and  heard  an  exposi- 
tion of  the  Populist  religion  by  the  benevolent-looking 
bore  from  Nebraska.  He  was  followed  by  an  arraign- 
ment of  the  "gold  standard  Administration  "  and  the 
Republican  party,  from  the  leading  advocate  of  bi- 
metallism with-or-without-the-concurrence-of-Europe. 
The  utterances  of  both  gentlemen  were  delivered  with 
the  repose  and  dignity  peculiar  to  their  body,  and 
Patriotism  and  the  Constitution  would  appear  to  be  their 
watchword  and  fetich.  Burleigh  came  up  to  the  gal- 


280  Senator  North 

lery  as  the  Silver  Senator  sat  down,  and  smiled  wearily 
at  Betty's  puzzled  comments. 

"  Of  course  they  sound  well,"  he  replied.  "  In  the 
first  place  there  is  always  much  to  be  said  on  both 
sides  of  any  question,  and  a  clever  speaker  can  make 
his  side  dwarf  the  other.  And  of  course  no  party 
could  exist  five  minutes  unless  it  had  some  good  in  it. 
There  are  several  admirable  principles  in  the  Populist 
creed ;  there  are  enough  windy  theories  to  upset  the 
Constitution  of  which  they  prate  ;  and,  by  the  way,  the 
more  wrong-headed  a  would-be  statesman  is  the  more 
hysterically  does  he  plead  for  the  Constitution.  As  to 
the  other  Senator  —  I  sympathize  as  deeply  with  the 
farmer  as  any  man,  and  I  hoped  against  hope  for  the 
success  of  the  bimetallic  envoys ;  but  the  farmer  is  of 
considerably  less  importance  than  the  national  honor ; 
and  if  a  man  is  not  statesman  enough  to  take  the 
national  view  when  he  comes  to  the  Senate,  he  had 
better  stay  at  home  and  become  a  party  boss." 

"  Are  you  in  trouble  at  home  ?  I  saw  that  you  made 
a  speech  just  before  you  left." 

"  They  are  furious,  and  elections  are  imminent ;  but 
I  never  have  believed  that  it  paid  in  the  end  to  be  a 
politician,  and  I  propose  to  hold  to  that  view.  If  I  am 
not  re-elected  this  time,  I  will  venture  to  say  that  1 
shall  be  six  years  later  —  " 

"  Oh,  I  should  be  sorry  !  I  should  be  sorry  !  Your 
heart  is  in  the  Senate.  How  could  you  settle  down 
contentedly  to  practise  law  in  a  Western  city  for  six 
years?" 

"  I  certainly  should  have  very  little  to  offer  a  woman," 
he  said  bitterly.  His  frank  handsome  face  had  lost 
the  expression  of  gayety  which  had  sat  so  gracefully 


Senator  North  281 

upon  the  determination  of  its  contours;  he  looked 
harassed  and  a  trifle  cynical.  "There  is  only  one 
thing  I  hate  more  than  leaving  the  United  States 
Senate  —  and  God  knows  I  love  it  and  its  traditions : 
what  that  is  I  feel  I  now  have  no  right  —  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  have  ;  for  if  I  loved  you  I  would  live 
at  the  North  Pole  with  you,  and  I  hate  cold  weather. 
I  don't  want  you  to  put  me  in  that  sort  of  position, 
both  for  the  sake  of  your  own  pride  and  for  our 
friendship." 

"  That  is  like  you,  and  I  shall  take  you  at  your  word. 
Perhaps  you  can  imagine  what  it  cost  me  to  come  out 
and  declare  myself  in  a  State  howling  for  Silver,  when 
I  knew  that  to  leave  Washington  meant  losing  my 
chance  with  you.  For  if  I  am  not  re-elected  I  must  go 
out  there  and  stay.  I  could  afford  to  live  here,  of 
course  —  I  hope  you  know  that  I  have  plenty  of  money 
—  but  my  political  future  is  there.  Even  if  you  made  it 
a  condition,  I  should  not  pull  up  stakes,  for  a  man  who 
despised  himself  for  abandoning  his  ambitions  and  his 
power  for  usefulness  could  not  be  happy  with  any 
woman." 

"  I  should  not  make  such  a  condition.  As  I  said,  I 
willingly  would  go  West  with  you  if  I  loved  you." 

"  Would  to  God  you  did  !  What  I  meant  was  that 
in  going  I  lose  my  chance." 

Betty  looked  at  him  and  shook  her  head  slowly. 

"Yes!"  he  said.  "Yes!  Yes!  I  believe,  I  know 
that  I  could  win  you  with  time.  And  now  that  the 
future  looks  dark  I  want  you  more  than  ever." 

"  Ah,  I  wish  I  could  love  you,"  she  exclaimed  fer- 
vently. "  I  have  enough  of  feminine  insight  to  know 
that  a  woman  is  really  happy  only  when  she  is  making 


282  Senator  North 

a  man  happy,  and  that  she  is  almost  ready  to  bless  the 
troubles  which  give  her  the  opportunity  to  console 
him." 

She  was  looking  straight  down  at  Senator  North  as 
she  spoke.  Her  voice  was  impassioned  as  she  finished, 
and  she  forgot  the  man  at  her  side.  But  he  never  had 
suspected  that  she  loved  another  man.  His  face  flushed 
and  he  lowered  his  head  eagerly. 

"  Betty  !  "  he  said,  "  Betty  !  Come  to  me  and  I 
swear  to  make  you  happy.  You  don't  know  what  love 
is.  You  need  to  be  taught.  Any  man  can  make  a 
woman  of  feeling  love  him  if  he  loves  her  enough 
and  she  has  no  antipathy  to  him.  And  there  is  no 
reason  under  heaven  why  we  should  not  be  happy 
together." 

There  was  only  one.  Betty  was  convinced  of  that ; 
and  for  the  moment  the  dull  ache  in  her  heart 
prompted  her  to  wish  that  she  never  had  seen  the  man 
down  there  listening  impassively  to  remarks  on  the 
Immigration  bill.  She  wanted  to  be  happy,  she  was 
made  to  be  happy,  and  it  was  easy  to  imagine  the  most 
exacting  woman  deeply  attached  to  Robert  Burleigh. 
What  was  love  that  it  defied  the  Will?  Why  could  not 
she  shake  up  her  brain  as  one  shakes  up  a  misused 
sofa-cushion  and  beat  it  into  proper  shape  ?  What  was 
love  that  persisted  in  spite  of  the  Will  and  the  judg- 
ment, that  came  whence  no  mortal  could  discover,  but 
an  abnormal  condition  of  the  brain,  a  convolution  that 
no  human  treatment  could  reach  ?  But  she  only  shook 
her  head  at  Burleigh,  although  she  knew  that  it  would 
be  wisdom  to  give  him  her  hand  in  full  view  of  the 
stragglers  in  the  gallery. 

"  I  must  go  now,"  she  said.     "  I  have  calls  to  pay. 


Senator  North  283 

Come  and  dine  with  us  to-night.  If  there  is  even  a 
chance  of  our  losing  you,  my  mother  and  I  must  have 
all  of  you  that  we  can,  meanwhile." 


VI 

"  IT  is  just  a  year  ago  to-day,  Betty,  that  you  nearly 
killed  me  by  announcing  your  determination  to  go  into 
politics  —  or  whatever  you  choose  to  call  it.  I  put 
down  the  date.  A  great  deal  has  happened  since  then 
—  poor  dear  Jack  !  and  I  often  think  of  that  unfortu- 
nate creature,  too.  But  you  and  I  are  here  in  this 
same  room,  and  I  wonder  if  you  are  glad  or  sorry  that 
you  entered  upon  this  eccentric  course." 

"  I  have  no  regrets,"  said  Betty,  smiling.  "  And  I 
don't  think  you  have.  You  like  every  man  that  comes 
here,  and  while  they  are  talking  to  you  forget  that  you 
ever  had  an  ache.  As  for  me  —  no,  I  have  no  regrets, 
not  one.  I  am  glad." 

"  Well,  I  will  admit  that  they  are  much  better  than 
I  thought.  I  must  say  I  never  saw  a  finer  set  of  men 
than  those  at  your  dinner,  and  I  felt  proud  of  my  coun- 
try, although  I  was  nervous  once  or  twice.  I  almost 
love  Mr.  Burleigh ;  so  I  refrain  from  further  criticism. 
But,  Betty,  there  is  one  thing  I  feel  I  must  say  —  " 

She  hesitated  and  readjusted  her  cushions  nervously. 
Betty  looked  at  her  inquiringly,  and  experienced  a 
slight  chill.  She  stood  up  suddenly  and  put  her  foot 
on  the  fender. 

"  It  is  this,"  continued  Mrs.  Madison,  hurriedly.  "  I 
think  you  are  too  much  with  Senator  North.  He  was 


284  Senator  North 

here  constantly  before  you  left  Washington,  and  of 
course  I  know  you  boated  with  him  a  great  deal  last 
summer.  Since  your  return  he  has  been  here  several 
times,  and  you  treat  him  with  twice  the  attention  with 
which  you  treat  any  other  man.  Of  course  I  can  un- 
derstand the  attraction  which  a  man  with  a  brain  like 
that  must  have  for  you,  but  there  is  something  more 
important  to  be  considered.  You  have  been  the  most 
noticeable  girl  in  Washington  for  years  —  in  our  set  — 
and  now  that  you  have  branched  out  in  this  extraordi- 
nary manner  and  are  even  going  to  have  a  salon,  you  '11 
quickly  be  the  most  conspicuous  in  the  other  set.  Mr. 
North  is  easily  the  most  conspicuous  figure  in  the  Sen- 
ate —  a  half  dozen  of  your  new  friends,  including  that 
Speaker,  have  told  me  so  —  and  if  this  friendship  keeps 
on  people  will  talk,  as  sure  as  fate.  There  is  no  harm 
done  yet —  I  sounded  Sally  Carter  —  but  there  will  be. 
That  sort  of  gossip  grows  gradually  and  surely ;  it  is 
not  like  a  great  scandal  that  blazes  up  and  out  and 
that  people  get  tired  of;  they  will  get  into  the  habit 
of  believing  all  sorts  of  dreadful  things,  and  they  never 
will  acquire  the  habit  of  disbelieving  them." 

Betty  made  no  reply.  She  stood  staring  into  the 
fire. 

"It  would  have  been  more  difficult  for  me  to  say 
such  a  thing  to  you  a  year  ago ;  but  you  seem  a  good 
deal  older,  somehow.  I  suppose  it  is  being  so  much 
with  men  old  enough  to  be  your  father,  and  talking 
constantly  about  things  that  give  me  the  nightmare  to 
think  of.  And  of  course  you  have  had  two  terrible 
shocks.  But  you  are  so  buoyant  I  hope  you  will  get 
over  all  that  in  time.  Wouldn't  you  like  to  go  to  the 
Riviera,  and  then  to  London  for  the  season?" 


Senator  North  285 

"  And  desert  my  salon  ?  "  asked  Betty,  lightly.  "  You 
forget  this  is  the  long  term.  I  am  praying  that  sum- 
mer will  come  late,  so  that  you  can  stay  on.  It  never 
had  occurred  to  me  that  any  one  would  notice  my 
friendship  with  Mr.  North.  I  hope  they  will  do 
nothing  so  silly  as  to  comment  on  it." 

"  Well,  they  will,  if  you  are  not  very  careful.  And 
there  is  no  position  in  the  world  so  unenviable  as  that 
of  a  girl  who  gets  herself  talked  about  with  a  married 
man.  Men  lose  interest  in  her  and  raise  their  eye- 
brows at  the  clubs  when  her  name  is  mentioned,  and 
women  gradually  drop  her.  Money  and  position  will 
cover  up  a  good  many  indiscretions  in  a  married 
woman  or  a  widow,  but  the  world  always  has  demanded 
that  a  girl  shall  be  immaculate  ;  and  if  she  permits 
Society  to  think  she  is  not,  it  punishes  her  for  violating 
one  of  its  pet  standards.  Mr.  North  can  be  nothing 
to  you.  The  day  is  sure  to  come  when  you  will  want 
to  marry.  No  woman  is  really  satisfied  in  any  other 
state." 

Betty  turned  and  looked  squarely  at  her  mother,  who 
had  lost  even  the  semblance  of  nervousness  in  her  deep 
maternal  anxiety. 

"  Do  you  believe  that  I  love  Mr.  North  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  do.  And  I  know  that  he  loves  you.  There 
is  no  mistaking  the  way  a  man  turns  to  a  woman  every 
time  she  begins  to  speak.  But  on  that  score  I  have 
no  fears.  I  know  that  you  not  only  must  have  the 
high  principles  of  the  women  of  your  race,  but  that 
you  are  too  much  a  woman-of-the-world  to  enter  upon 
a  liaison,  which  would  mean  constant  lying,  fear,  black- 
mail by  servants,  and  general  wretchedness.  And  I 
have  perfect  faith  in  him.  Even  a  scoundrel  will  hesi- 


286  Senator  North 

tate  a  long  while  before  he  makes  himself  responsible 
for  the  future  of  a  girl  in  your  position,  and  Mr.  North 
is  not  a  scoundrel  but  an  honorable  gentleman.  More- 
over he  knows  that  a  scandal  would  ruin  him  in  his 
Puritanical  State ;  and  he  adores  his  sons,  who  are 
prouder  of  him  than  if  he  were  ten  Presidents.  But 
the  world  can  talk  and  continue  to  talk,  and  to  act  as 
viciously  about  an  imprudent  friendship  as  about  a 
liaison,  for  it  has  no  means  of  proving  anything  and 
likes  to  believe  the  worst.  Now,  I  sha'n't  say  any 
more.  You  are  capable  of  doing  your  own  thinking. 
Only  do  think  —  please." 

Betty  nodded  to  her  mother,  and  went  to  her  bou- 
doir and  sat  there  for  hours.  Nothing  could  have  put 
the  ugly  practical  side  of  her  romance  so  precisely 
before  her  as  her  mother's  black  and  white  statement, 
full  of  the  little  colloquial  phrases  with  which  an  unam- 
bitious world  expresses  itself.  Even  for  him,  Betty 
reflected,  she  could  not  endure  vulgar  gossip,  and 
wondered  how  any  high-bred  woman  could  for  any 
man. 

"  For  what  else  does  civilization  mean/'  she 
thought,  "  if  those  of  us  that  have  its  highest  advan- 
tages are  not  wiser  and  more  fastidious  than  the  mob  ? 
And  unless  a  woman  is  ready  to  go  and  live  in  a  cave, 
she  cannot  be  happy  in  the  loss  of  the  world's  regard, 
for  it  can  make  her  uncomfortable  in  quite  a  thousand 
little  ways.  Expediency  is  the  root  of  all  morality.  It 
is  stupid  to  be  unmoral,  and  that  is  the  long  and  the 
short  of  it.  I  would  marry  him  to-morrow  if  I  had  to 
cook  for  him,  if  he  were  dishonored  by  his  country,  if 
he  were  smitten  suddenly  with  ill- health  and  never 
could  walk  again.  I  am  willing  to  go  through  life 


Senator  North  287 

alone  for  his  sake,  even  without  seeing  him,  and  after 
he  is  dead  and  gone.  I  love  him  absolutely,  and  if 
there  is  another  world  I  must  meet  him  there.  But 
I  am  not  willing  to  become  a  social  pariah  on  his 
account." 

She  never  had  permitted  her  mind  to  linger  on  the 
practical  aspect  of  a  different  relationship,  to  admit  that 
such  a  chapter  was  possible  outside  of  her  imagination, 
but  she  did  so  now,  deliberately.  She  knew  that  what 
her  mother  had  intimated  was  true,  that  the  happiness 
to  be  got  out  of  it  would  amount  to  very  little,  and  that 
the  day  would  come  when  she  would  say  that  it  was  not 
worth  the  price.  There  were  many  times  when  she 
was  not  capable  of  reasoning  coldly  on  this  question, 
but  she  had  been  listening  for  two  hours  to  Senator 
Ffrench  on  the  restriction  of  immigration,  and  felt  all 
intellect. 

Her  mind  turned  to  Harriet.  There  was  a  creature 
foredoomed  to  destruction  by  the  forces  within  her, 
struggling  in  vain,  assisted  and  guarded  in  vain. 
Should  she,  with  her  inheritance  of  kindly  forces  within 
and  without,  deliberately  readjust  her  manifest  lines 
into  a  likeness  of  Harriet  Walker's?  And  she  knew 
that  even  if  she  hoodwinked  the  world,  the  miserable 
deception  of  it  all,  the  nervous  terrors,  not  only  would 
wear  love  down,  but  shatter  her  ideals  of  herself  and 
him.  She  would  be  infinitely  more  miserable  than  now. 

It  relieved  her  to  have  thought  that  phase  out,  and 
she  put  it  aside.  But  the  other?  Must  she  give  him 
up?  What  pleasure  could  she  find  in  sitting  here  with 
him  if  her  mother's  apprehensive  mind  did  not  leave 
the  room  for  a  moment?  What  pleasure  if  a  vulgar 
world  were  whispering? 


288  Senator  North 

She  reflected  with  some  bitterness  that  one  danger 
was  receding.  He  had  not  entered  this  room  since 
the  day  of  her  return.  Although  he  had  called  several 
times,  he  had  come  in  the  evening,  when  she  always  sat 
with  her  mother,  or  in  the  morning,  when  Mrs.  Madison 
again  was  sure  to  be  present.  She  knew  that  he  dared 
not  come  here,  and  that  it  was  more  than  likely  he 
never  would  call  at  the  old  hour  again. 

She  realized  these  two  facts  suddenly  and  vividly ; 
her  mind  worked  with  a  brutal  frankness  at  times. 
She  began  to  cry  heavily,  the  tears  raining  on  her  in- 
tellectual mood  and  obliterating  it.  If  she  were  not 
to  see  him  alone  again,  she  might  as  well  ask  him  to 
come  to  the  house  on  Thursday  evenings  only,  and  to 
show  her  no  attention  in  public  ;  if  she  could  not  have 
the  old  hours  again,  she  wanted  nothing  less.  And  she 
wanted  them  passionately ;  those  hours  came  back  to 
her  with  a  poignancy  of  happiness  in  memory  that  the 
present  had  not  revealed,  and  the  thought  that  they 
had  gone  for  ever  filled  her  with  a  suffocating  anguish 
that  was  as  complete  as  it  was  sudden.  She  implored 
him  under  her  breath  to  come  to  her,  then  prayed  that 
he  would  not.  .  .  . 

She  became  conscious  that  she  was  in  a  mood  to 
take  any  step,  were  he  here,  rather  than  lose  him ;  and 
the  mood  terrified  her.  Would  the  time  come  when 
this  intolerable  pain  would  kill  every  inheritance  in 
her  brain,  its  empire  the  more  absolute  because  it 
made  passion  itself  insignificant  in  the  more  terrible 
want  of  the  heart  ?  If  it  did,  she  would  marry  Bur- 
leigh.  She  made  up  her  mind  instantly.  She  would 
fight  as  long  as  she  could,  for  she  passionately  desired 
to  live  her  life  alone  with  the  idea  of  this  man ;  but  if 


Senator  North  289 

she  were  not  strong  enough,  she  would  marry  and  bury 
herself  in  the  West.  Nothing  but  an  irrevocable  step 
would  affect  a  permanent  mental  attitude,  and  Burleigh 
would  give  her  little  time  for  thought. 


VII 


BETTY  went  very  often  to  the  Senate  Gallery  in  these 
days,  for  it  was  the  only  place  where  one  might  have 
relief  from  the  eternal  subject  of  Cuba.  Although  the 
House  broke  loose  under  cover  of  the  Diplomatic  and 
Consular  Appropriation  Bill  when  it  was  in  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Whole  and  free  of  the  Speaker's  iron 
hand,  and  raged  for  two  days  with  the  vehemence  of 
long-repressed  passion,  the  Senate  permitted  only  an 
occasional  spurt  from  its  warlike  members,  and  pursued 
its  even  way  with  the  important  bills  before  it.  But 
at  teas,  dinners,  luncheons,  and  receptions  people  chat- 
tered with  amiability  or  insuavity  about  the  hostile 
demonstrations  at  Havana  against  Americans,  the 
Spanish  Minister's  letter,  Spain's  demand  for  the  re- 
call of  Consul-General  Lee,  the  dying  reconcentrados, 
the  exploits  of  the  insurgents,  and  the  general  possi- 
bilities of  war.  The  old  Madison  house,  which  had 
ignored  politics  for  half  a  century,  vibrated  with  polite 
excitement  on  Thursday  evenings.  About  a  hundred 
people  came  to  these  receptions,  which  finished  with  a 
supper,  and  it  was  understood  that  the  free  expression 
of  opinion  should  be  the  rule;  consequently  several 
repressed  members  of  both  Houses  delivered  im- 
promptu speeches,  in  the  guise  of  toasts,  before  that 

19 


290  Senator  North 

select  audience ;  much  to  the  amusement  of  Senator 
North  and  the  Speaker  of  the  House.  Burleigh's  was 
really  impassioned  and  brilliant ;  and  Armstrong's,  if 
woolly  in  its  phrasing  and  Populistic  in  its  length,  was 
sufficiently  entertaining. 

As  for  Mrs.  Madison,  she  became  imbued  with  the 
fear  that  war  would  be  declared  in  her  house.  Two 
Cabinet  ministers  had  been  added  to  the  salon,  and 
what  they  in  conjunction  with  the  colossal  Speaker  and 
Senators  North  and  Ward  might  accomplish  if  they 
cared  to  try,  was  appalling  to  contemplate.  She  begged 
Betty  to  adjourn  the  salon  till  peace  had  come  again. 

But  to  this  Betty  would  not  hearken.  It  was  the 
sun  of  her  week,  through  whose  heavy  clouds  flickered 
the  pale  stars  of  distractions  for  which  she  was  begin- 
ning to  care  little.  One  of  life's  compensations  is  that 
there  is  always  something  ahead,  some  trifling  event  of 
interest  or  pleasure  upon  which  one  may  fix  one's  eye 
and  endeavor  to  forget  the  dreary  tissue  of  monotony 
and  commonplace  between.  Betty  found  herself  ac- 
quiring the  habit  of  casting  her  eye  over  the  day  as 
soon  as  she  awoke  in  the  morning,  and  if  nothing 
distracting  presented  itself,  she  planned  for  something 
as  well  as  she  could. 

She  endeavored  to  introduce  the  pleasant  English 
custom  of  asking  a  few  congenial  spirits  to  come  for 
a  cup  of  afternoon  tea.  These  little  informal  reunions 
are  among  the  most  delightful  episodes  of  London  life, 
and  if  established  as  a  custom  in  Washington  would  be 
like  the  greenest  of  oases  in  the  whirling  breathless  sand- 
storms of  that  social  Sahara.  But  even  Betty  Madison, 
strong  as  she  was  both  in  position  and  personality,  met 
with  but  a  moderate  success.  When  women  have  from 


Senator  North  291 

six  to  twenty-five  calls  to  pay  every  afternoon  of  the 
season,  with  at  least  one  tea  a  day  besides,  they  have 
little  time  or  inclination  for  pleasant  informalities. 
Doubtless  Miss  Madison's  friends  felt  that  they  should 
be  relieved  of  the  additional  tax.  Even  the  women  of 
the  fashionable  set,  which  includes  some  of  the  Old 
Washingtonians  and  many  newer  comers  of  equally 
high  degree,  and  which  ignores  the  official  set,  pre- 
serve the  same  ridiculous  fashion  of  calling  in  person 
six  days  in  the  week  instead  of  merely  leaving  cards  as 
in  older  and  more  civilized  communities.  In  London, 
society  has  learned  to  combine  the  maximum  of  pleas- 
ure with  the  minimum  of  work.  Washington  society  is 
its  antithesis ;  and  although  many  of  the  most  brilliant 
men  in  America  are  in  its  official  set,  and  the  brightest 
and  most  charming  women  in  its  fashionable  as  well 
as  political  set,  they  are,  through  the  exigencies  of  the 
old  social  structure,  of  little  use  to  each  other.  Betty 
occasionally  managed  to  capture  three  or  four  people 
who  talked  delightfully  when  they  felt  they  had  time 
to  indulge  in  consecutive  sentences,  but  as  a  rule 
people  came  on  her  reception  day  only,  and  many  of 
them  walked  in  at  one  door  of  her  drawing-room  and 
out  at  the  other. 

The  debate  in  the  Senate  on  the  payment  of  bonds 
interested  her  deeply,  for  she  knew  that  it  meant  days 
of  uneasiness  for  Senator  North,  who  rarely  was  absent 
from  his  seat.  His  brief  speech  on  the  subject  was 
the  finest  she  had  heard  him  make,  and  although  it 
was  bitter  and  sarcastic  while  he  was  arraigning  the 
adherents  of  the  resolution  to  pay  the  government 
debt  in  silver,  he  became  impersonal  and  almost  im- 
passioned as  he  argued  in  behalf  of  national  honesty. 


292  Senator  North 

Betty  never  had  seen  him  so  close  to  excitement,  and 
she  wondered  if  he  found  it  a  relief  to  speak  out  on 
any  subject.  But  if  he  ever  thought  of  her  down  there 
he  made  no  sign,  for  he  neither  raised  his  eyes  to  the 
gallery  nor  did  he  pay  her  a  second  visit  in  her 
select  but  conspicuous  precinct. 

The  resolution  passed  the  Senate,  and  on  that 
evening  Senator  North  called  at  the  Madison  house. 
It  was  two  weeks  since  he  had  called  before,  and 
although  he  had  come  to  her  evenings  and  they  had 
met  at  several  dinners,  they  had  not  attempted  conver- 
sation. 

The  Montgomerys  and  Carters  had  dined  at  the 
house,  and  all  were  in  the  parlor  when  he  arrived. 
After  a  few  minutes  he  was  able  to  talk  apart  with  Betty. 
They  moved  gradually  toward  the  end  of  the  room 
and  sat  down  on  a  small  sofa. 

"  I  am  glad  you  came  to-night/1  she  said.  "  It  was 
my  impulse  to  go  to  you  when  I  heard  how  the  vote 
had  gone." 

"  I  knew  it,"  he  replied,  "  and  if  I  could  have  come 
straight  up  here  to  the  old  room,  I  should  have  hung 
up  the  vote  with  my  overcoat  in  the  hall." 

He  looked  harassed,  and  his  eyes,  while  they  had 
lost  nothing  of  their  magnetic  power,  were  less  calmly 
penetrating  than  usual.  They  looked  as  if  their  fires 
had  been  unloosed  more  than  once  of  late  and  were 
under  indifferent  control. 

"  You  will  not  come  to  that  room  again  !  " 

"  No.  And  I  soon  shall  cease  to  come  here  at  all 
except  on  Thursdays." 

"  You  almost  have  done  that  now.  I  think  I  get 
more  satisfaction  watching  you  from  the  gallery  than 


Senator  North  293 

anything  else.  You  look  very  calm  and  senatorial,  and 
you  always  are  standing  some  one  in  a  corner  who  is 
trying  to  make  a  speech." 

"  I  am  relieved  to  know  that  I  do  not  inspire  the 
amazement  of  my  colleagues.  It  is  a  long  while  since 
I  have  felt  calm  and  senatorial,  however.  But  these 
are  days  for  alertness  of  mind,  and  even  the  most 
distracting  of  women  must  be  shut  up  in  her  cupboard 
and  forgotten  for  a  few  hours  every  day." 

"  I  think  I  rather  like  that." 

"  Of  course  you  do.  A  woman  always  likes  a  strong 
lover.  And  you  have  plenty  of  revenge,  if  you  did 
but  know." 

"  I  know,"  she  said ;  and  as  she  raised  her  eyes  and 
looked  at  him  steadily,  he  believed  her. 

"Tell  me  at  least  that  you  miss  coming  to  that 
room  —  I  want  to  hear  you  say  it." 

"  Good  God  !  " 

Betty  caught  her  breath.  But  when  women  feel 
nre  between  their  fingers  and  are  reckless  before  the 
swift  approach  of  a  greater  wretchedness  than  that 
possessing  them,  they  are  merciless  to  themselves  and 
the  man. 

"  Can  you  stay  away  ?  "  she  whispered.    "  Can  you  ?  " 

"  It  is  the  one  thing  I  can  do." 

"  Do  you  realize  what  you  are  saying?  —  that  you 
have  put  me  aside  for  ever?  Are  you  willing  to  admit 
that,  it  is  all  over?  How  am  I  to  live  on  and  on  and 
on?  Can  you  fancy  me  alone  next  summer  in  the 
Adirondacks  —  " 

"  Hush  !  Hush  !  Do  you  wish  me  to  come  ?  An- 
swer me  honestly,  without  any  feminine  subterfuge." 

"  No,  I  do  not." 


294  Senator  North 

"  And  I  should  not  come  if  you  did,  for  I  know  the 
price  we  both  should  pay  better  than  you  do,  and  only 
complete  happiness  could  justify  such  a  step.  You 
and  I  could  find  happiness  in  marriage  only  —  we 
both  demand  too  much  !  But  I  also  know  that  the 
higher  faculties  of  the  mind  do  not  always  prevail,  and 
I  shall  not  see  you  alone  again." 

She  pushed  him  further.  "  You  take  this  philosoph- 
ically because  you  have  loved  before  and  recovered. 
You  feel  sure  that  no  love  lasts." 

"  When  a  man  loves  as  I  love  you,  he  has  no  past. 
There  are  no  experiences  alive  in  his  memory  to  help 
him  to  philosophy.  With  all  the  world  the  last  love 
is  the  only  love.  As  for  myself,  I  shall  not  love  again 
and  I  shall  not  recover." 

"  I  wore  white  because  I  knew  you  would  come 
to-night,"  she  said  softly. 

"  Yes,  and  you  would  torment  me  if  I  went  down 
on  my  knees  and  begged  for  mercy." 

"  Senator,"  said  Montgomery,  approaching  them. 
"I  suppose  it  is  some  satisfaction  to  you  to  know 
that  that  resolution  cannot  pass  the  House." 

"  I  hope  you  will  make  a  speech  on  the  subject  that 
will  look  well  in  the  Record,"  said  North,  with  some 
sarcasm. 

Montgomery  laughed.  "That  is  a  good  suggestion. 
I  wonder  if  some  of  our  orators  ever  read  themselves 
over  in  cold  blood.  The  back  numbers  of  the  Record 
ought  to  be  a  solemn  warning." 

"  Unfortunately  most  people  don't  know  when  they 
have  made  fools  of  themselves ;  that  is  one  reason  the 
world  grows  wise  so  slowly.  I  don't  doubt  your  speech 
will  look  well.  You've  been  remarkably  sane  for  a 


Senator  North  295 

young  man  of  enthusiasms.  Reserve  some  of  your 
logic,  however,  for  the  greater  conflict  that  is  coming. 
The  pressure  on  the  President  is  becoming  very  severe, 
and  the  worst  of  it  is  that  a  great  part  of  it  comes  from 
Congressmen  of  his  own  party." 

"  One  of  our  Populists  has  christened  these  '  kickers' 
*  the  reconcentrados  ; '  which  is  not  bad,  as  there  is  said 
to  be  a  kickers'  caucus  in  process  of  organization.  But 
if  the  pressure  on  the  President  is  severe,  it  is  equally 
so  on  us,  and  I  suppose  the  '  kickers '  are  those  who 
have  one  knob  too  few  in  their  backbones.  Some, 
however,  have  got  the  war  bee  inside  their  skulls  in- 
stead of  in  their  hats,  and  will  be  fit  subjects  for  a 
lunatic  asylum  if  the  thing  does  n't  end  soon,  one  way 
or  another.  And  they  reiterate  and  reiterate  that  they 
don't  want  war,  when  they  know  that  any  determined 
step  we  can  take  is  bound  to  lead  to  it.  I  have  no 
patience  with  them.  They  either  are  fools  or  are  trying 
to  keep  on  both  sides  of  the  fence  at  once." 

"  Politics  are  very  complicated,"  said  Senator  North, 
dryly. 

"  How  do  you  and  Mary  manage  to  live  in  the  same 
house?  "  asked  Betty.  "  She  is  all  for  war." 

"Oh,  I  think  she  rather  likes  the  opportunity  to 
argue.  And  she  is  so  divided  between  the  desire  for 
me  to  be  a  good  American  and  the  desire  that  England 
shall  have  an  excuse  to  hug  us  that  she  could  not  get 
into  a  temper  over  it  if  she  tried.  She  has  made  no 
attempt  to  influence  my  course.  Heaven  knows  how 
much  money  I  Ve  been  made  to  disburse  in  behalf  of 
the  reconcentrados,  but  I  like  women  to  be  tender- 
hearted and  would  not  harden  them  for  the  sake  of  a 
few  dollars,  even  were  they  dumped  in  Havana  Har- 


296 


Senator  North 


bor  —  By  the  way,  I  wonder  if  the  Maine  is  all  right 
down  there?  She  has  the  city  under  her  guns,  and 
they  know  it  —  " 

"  Oh,  for  heaven's  sake,  don't  suggest  any  new  hor- 
rors," said  Senator  North,  rising.  "  Besides,  the  Span- 
iards are  not  in  the  final  stages  of  idiocy.  It  would  be 
like  the  New  York  Journal  to  blow  up  the  Maine,  as  it 
seems  to  have  reached  that  stage  of  hysteria  which  be- 
tokens desperation  ;  but  the  ship  is  safe  as  far  as  the 
Spaniards  are  concerned." 

Lady  Mary  rose  to  go ;  and  Betty,  who  was  informal 
with  her  friends,  went  out  into  the  hall  with  her  instead 
of  ringing  for  a  servant.  Senator  North  remained  in 
the  parlor  for  a  few  moments  to  say  good-night  to  Mrs. 
Madison  and  the  Carters,  and  Betty,  although  the 
Montgomerys  did  not  linger,  waited  for  him  to  come 
out.  There  was  nothing  to  reflect  the  light  in  the 
dark  walls  of  the  large  square  hall,  and  it  always  was 
shadowy,  and  provocative  to  lovers  at  any  time. 

When  he  entered  it,  he  looked  at  her  for  a  moment 
without  speaking,  and  did  not  approach  her. 

"  You  might  be  the  ghost  of  another  Betty  Madison 
—  in  that  white  gown,"  he  said.  "  Was  there  not  a 
famous  one  in  the  days  of  1812,  and  did  she  not  love 
a  British  officer  —  or  something  of  that  sort?  " 

"  They  parted  here  in  this  hall  —  and  she  lived  on 
and  died  of  old  age.  Such  is  life.  I  sleep  in  her  bed; 
where,  I  suppose,  she  suffered  much  as  I  do." 

She  came  forward  and  pushed  her  hand  into  his. 
"I  am  not  a  ghost,"  she  said. 

He  too  believed  it  to  be  their  last  meeting  alone,  and 
he  raised  her  hand  to  his  lips  and  held  it  there. 

"I  wish  we  could  have  stayed  on  and  on  in  the 


Senator  North  297 

Adirondacks,"  she  said  unsteadily.  "  Everything 
seemed  to  go  well  with  us  there." 

"  People  in  mid-ocean  usually  are  happy  and  irre- 
sponsible. They  would  not  be  if  it  were  anything  but 
an  intermediate  state.  But  it  is  enough  to  know  that 
on  land  our  troubles  are  waiting  for  us." 

She  shivered  and  drew  closer  to  him.  The  danger- 
ous fire  in  her  eyes  faded. 

"  Mine  are  becoming  very  great,"  she  said.  "  All  I 
can  do  is  to  distract  my  mind,  to  fill  up  my  time." 

•'  And  I  can  do  nothing  to  help  you  !  That  is  the 
tragedy  of  a  love  like  ours :  the  more  a  man  loves  a 
woman  he  cannot  marry  the  more  he  must  make  her 
suffer  —  either  way ;  it  is  simply  a  choice  of  methods, 
and  if  he  really  loves  her  he  chooses  the  least  com- 
plicated." 

"  It  is  bad  enough." 

Her  eyes  filled  for  the  first  time  in  his  presence  since 
the  morning  of  Harriet's  death,  but  her  mental  temper 
was  very  different,  and  she  looked  at  him  steadily 
through  her  tears. 

"/cannot  he\p you,"  she  said.  "That  is  the  hard- 
est part.  You  are  harassed  in  many  ways,  and  you  are 
dreading  the  bitterness  of  a  greater  defeat  than  to- 
day's. I  could  be  so  much  to  you  —  so  much.  And 
I  can  be  nothing.  By  that  time  you  will  have  ceased 
to  come  here.  I  know  that  you  mean  not  to  come 
again  after  to-night,  except  when  the  house  is  full  of 
company." 

He  began  to  answer,  but  stopped.  She  felt  his  heart 
against  her  arm,  and  his  lips  burnt  her  hand,  his  eyes 
her  own. 

"  Listen,"  she  said  rapidly,  "  if  war  should  be  de- 


298  Senator  North 

clared  I  shall  be  in  the  gallery  to  hear  it.  I  will  come 
straight  home  and  shut  myself  up  in  my  boudoir  —  for 
hours  —  to  be  with  you  in  a  way —  Shall  I?  Will  — 
would  it  mean  anything  to  you?  " 

"  Of  course  it  would  1  " 

His  face  was  fully  unmasked,  and  she  moved  abruptly 
to  it  as  to  a  magnet.  In  another  moment  they  were  in 
the  more  certain  seclusion  of  the  vestibule,  and  she  was 
in  his  arms.  They  clung  together  with  a  passion 
which  despair  with  ironic  compensation  made  perfect, 
and  their  first  kiss  which  was  to  be  their  last  expressed 
for  a  moment  the  longing  of  the  year  of  their  love  and 
of  the  years  that  were  to  come.  That  such  a  moment 
ever  could  end  was  so  incredible  that  when  Betty  sud- 
denly found  herself  alone  she  looked  about  in  every 
direction  for  him,  and  then  the  blood  rushed  through 
her  in  a  tide  of  impotent  fury. 

It  was  this  blind  rage  that  enabled  her  to  go  back  to 
the  parlor  and  keep  up  until  the  Carters  went  home  a 
few  moments  later,  and  her  mother  had  gone  to  bed. 
Then  she  went  to  her  boudoir  and  locked  herself  in. 

How  she  got  through  that  night  without  sending  him 
an  imperious  summons  she  never  knew,  unless  it  were 
that  she  found  some  measure  of  relief  in  a  letter  she 
wrote  to  him.  If  she  could  not  see  him,  he  was  still 
her  lover,  her  only  intimate  friend,  and  her  confessor. 
She  promised  not  to  write  again,  but  she  demanded 
what  help  he  could  give  her. 

She  sent  the  letter  in  the  morning,  and  he  replied 
at  once :  — 

I  know.  Do  you  think  it  was  necessary  to  tell  me  ? 
Do  you  suppose  my  mind  left  you  for  a  moment  last  night, 
and  that  I  know  and  love  you  so  little  that  I  failed  to  im- 


Senator  North  299 

agine  and  understand  in  a  single  particular  ?  If  I  were  less 
of  a  man  and  more  of  a  god,  I  should  go  to  you  and  give 
you  the  help  you  need,  but  I  am  only  strong  enough  to 
keep  away  from  you.,  Not  in  thought,  however,  — if  that 
is  any  help. 

We  shall  meet  in  public  and  speak  together.  I  have  no 
desire  to  forget  you  nor  that  you  should  forget  me.  We 
neither  of  us  shall  forget,  but  we  shall  live  and  endure,  as  the 
strongest  of  us  always  do.  You  tell  me  that  you  are  tor- 
mented by  the  thought  that  you  have  added  to  my  trials. 
Remember  that  all  other  trials  sink  into  insignificance  beside 
this,  and  yet  that  this  greatest  that  has  come  to  me  in  a 
long  life  is  glorified  by  the  fact  of  its  existence.  And  if  it 
is  almost  a  relief  to  know  that  I  shall  not  see  you  alone 
again,  it  is  a  satisfaction  and  a  joy  to  remember  that  I 
have  kissed  you.  R.  N. 


VIII 

FOR  a  few  days  Betty  was  almost  happy  again.  She 
had  come  so  close  to  the  nucleus  of  love  that  it  had 
warmed  her  veins  and  intoxicated  her  brain.  Imagi- 
nation for  a  brief  moment  had  given  place  to  reality, 
and  if  she  felt  wiser  and  older  still  than  after  her  five 
months  of  meditation  on  the  events  of  the  summer, 
she  felt  less  sober.  One  great  desire  of  the  past  year 
had  been  fulfilled,  and  its  memory  sparkled  in  her 
brain,  and  her  heart  was  lighter.  It  had  been  hours 
before  she  had  ceased  to  feel  the  pressure  of  his  arms. 
She  wondered  how  she  could  have  been  so  weak  as 
to  think  of  marrying  Burleigh  in  self-defence,  and  she 
punished  him  by  an  indifference  of  manner  which  ap- 
proached frigidity ;  until  one  of  the  evening  journals 


300  Senator  North 

copied  a  bitter  attack  upon  him  from  the  leading 
newspaper  of  his  State,  when  she  relented  and  per- 
mitted him  to  console  himself  in  her  presence.  And 
although,  as  the  weeks  passed  and  she  saw  Senator 
North  from  the  gallery  of  the  Senate  only,  or  for  a  few 
impersonal  moments  in  the  crowd,  and  the  elixir  in 
her  veins  lost  its  strength,  still  she  felt  that  life  was 
sufferable  once  more.  She  had  endeavored  to  put 
Mrs.  North  from  her  mind,  but  more  than  once  she 
caught  herself  wishing  that  some  one  would  mention 
her  name.  Nobody  did  in  those  excited  days,  and 
Betty  had  no  means  of  learning  whether  her  sudden 
good  health  had  been  final  or  temporary.  Sally 
Carter  did  not  allude  to  her  again.  When  she  and 
Betty  met,  it  was  to  wrangle  on  the  Cuban  question,  for 
Miss  Carter  was  all  for  war. 

And  then  one  day  the  newsboys  shrieked  in  the 
streets  that  the  Maine  had  been  blown  up  in  Havana 
Harbor. 

For  a  few  days  Congress  held  its  peace,  and  the 
country  showed  a  praiseworthy  attempt  to  believe  in 
the  theory  of  accident  or  to  wait  for  full  proof  of 
Spanish  treachery.  The  Maine  was  blown  up  on 
Tuesday,  and  on  Thursday  night  at  the  Madisons'  the 
subject  almost  was  avoided ;  it  was  the  most  peaceful 
salon  Betty  had  held. 

But  it  was  merely  the  calm  before  the  storm.  The 
fever  was  still  in  the  country's  blood,  which  began  to 
flow  freely  to  the  brain  again  as  soon  as  the  shock  was 
over.  The  press  could  not  let  pass  the  most  glorious 
opportunity  in  its  history  for  head-lines;  there  were 
more  mass  meetings  than  even  the  press  could  grapple 
with,  and  all  the  latent  oratorical  ability  in  the  country 


Senator  North  301 

burst  into  flower.  It  seemed  to  Betty  when  she  rose 
in  the  night  and  leaned  out  of  her  window  that  she 
could  hear  the  roar  of  the  great  national  storm. 

And  it  rose  and  swelled  and  left  the  old  land- 
marks behind  it.  The  memory  of  the  gales  of  the 
past  year,  with  the  intervals  of  doubt  and  rest,  was  in- 
significant beside  this  volume  of  fury  pouring  out  of 
every  State,  to  concentrate  at  last,  fierce,  unreasoning, 
and  irresistible,  about  the  White  House  and  Capitol 
Hill.  It  was  not  long  before  the  great  quiet  village  on 
the  Potomac  seemed  to  epitomize  the  terrible  mood 
of  the  country  it  represented,  and  the  country  had 
made  up  its  mind  long  before  the  report  of  the  Maine 
Court  of  Inquiry  came  in.  The  cry  no  longer  was 
for  the  suffering  Cuban,  but  for  revenge.  The  Senate 
held  down  its  "kickers"  with  an  iron  hand,  but  one 
or  two  of  the  inferior  men  managed  to  shout  across 
the  Chamber  to  their  constituents.  Senator  North 
scarcely  left  his  seat.  Burleigh  told  Betty  that  he 
should  not  allude  to  the  subject  in  the  Senate  until 
after  the  Court  of  Inquiry's  report,  but  then,  whatever 
the  result,  he  should  speak  and  ask  for  war.  Betty 
argued  with  him  by  the  hour,  and  although  he  dis- 
cussed the  matter  from  every  side,  it  was  evident  that 
he  did  it  merely  for  the  pleasure  of  talking  to  her  and 
that  she  could  not  shake  his  resolution  for  a  moment. 
It  was  time  for  the  United  States  to  put  an  end  to  the 
barbarous  state  of  affairs  a  few  miles  from  her  shores, 
and  that  was  the  end  of  it.  He  admitted  the  patriot- 
ism of  Senator  North's  attitude,  but  contended  that  the 
United  States  would  be  more  dishonored  if  she  disre- 
garded this  terrible  appeal  to  her  humanity.  When 
Betty  accused  him  of  short-sightedness,  he  replied  that 


302  Senator  North 

a  foretold  result  required  a  straight  line  of  succession, 
and  that  when  great  events  thickened  the  line  of  suc- 
cession was  anything  but  straight ;  therefore  ultimates 
could  not  be  foretold.  He  admitted  that  Senator 
North  had  proved  himself  possessed  of  the  faculty  of 
what  Herbert  Spencer  calls  representativeness  more 
than  once,  but  men  as  wise  and  calm  in  their  judg- 
ment had  been  mistaken  before.  But  he  and  others  of 
his  standing  were  preserving  the  dignity  of  the  Senate, 
and  that  was  something. 


IX 

"  IF  you  have  this  war,"  said  Lady  Mary  Montgomery  to 
Betty,  who  had  come  to  receive  with  her  on  one  of  her 
Tuesdays,  "  it  will  be  strictly  constitutional  if  you  look  at 
it  in  the  right  way.  This  is  a  government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  and  as  the  people  are 
practically  a  unit  in  their  howl  for  war,  they  have  a 
right  to  it,  and  the  responsibility  is  on  their  shoulders, 
not  on  your  few  statesmen." 

"  That  is  a  real  gem  of  feminine  logic,  but  not  only 
is  one  wise  man  of  more  account  than  ten  thousand 
fools,  but  a  unit  is  a  unit  and  has  no  comparative  state. 
The  serious  men  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the 
other  are  doing  all  they  can  to  quell  the  excitement ; 
so  are  the  few  decent  newspapers  that  we  possess. 
But  they  are  dealing  with  a  mob ;  an  excited  mob  is 
always  mad,  and  in  this  case  the  keepers  are  not  nu- 
merous enough  for  the  lunatics.  But  no  one  will  ques- 
tion that  the  intelligent  keepers  are  right  and  the  mob 


Senator  North  303 

wrong.  The  average  intelligence  is  always  shallow,  and 
in  electric  climates  very  excitable.  We  are  dealing  to- 
day no  less  with  a  huge  mob,  even  if  it  is  not  massed 
and  marching,  than  were  the  few  sane  men  of  the 
French  Revolution.  An  exciting  idea  is  like  a  venom- 
ous microbe ;  it  bites  into  the  brain,  and  if  circum- 
stances do  not  occur  to  expel  it,  it  produces  a  form  of 
mania.  That  is  the  only  way  I  can  account  for  Bur- 
leigh's  attitude ;  he  is  one  of  the  few  exceptions. 
There  are  thousands  of  men  in  the  United  States 
whose  brains  could  stand  any  strain,  but  there  are 
hundreds  of  thousands  who  were  born  to  swell  a  mob. 
As  for  '  government  by  the  people,'  that  phrase  should 
be  translated  to-day  into  'tyranny  of  the  people.' 
England  under  a  constitutional  monarchy  is  far  freer 
than  we  are." 

"  Well,  I  am  suppressed  and  will  say  no  more.  I 
suppose  I  shall  have  a  mob  to-day.  If  anything, 
people  are  paying  more  calls  than  ever,  for  they  can't 
stay  indoors  for  twenty-five  minutes  with  no  one  to 
talk  to.  It  is  getting  monotonous.  I  wish  that  the 
President  and  the  Senate  would  begin  to  play,  but  they 
look  as  impassive  as  the  statues  in  the  parks." 

The  rooms  filled  quickly.  By  five  o'clock  the  usual 
crowd  was  there,  and  if  it  had  its  dowdy  battalion  as 
ever,  there  was  no  evidence  that  the  more  fortunate 
had  lost  their  interest  in  dress,  despite  the  warlike 
state  of  their  nerves.  Not  that  all  were  for  war,  by 
any  means.  Many  were  clinging  to  a  forlorn  hope, 
but  they  could  talk  of  nothing  else. 

Betty  had  just  listened  to  the  twenty-eighth  theory 
of  the  cause  of  the  Maine's  destruction  when  she  turned 
in  response  to  a  familiar  drawl. 


304  Senator  North 

"  Why,  howdy,  Miss  Madison,  1  'm  real  glad  to  run 
across  you  at  last." 

Betty  was  so  taken  aback  that  she  mechanically 
surrendered  her  hand  to  the  limp  pressure  of  her 
former  housekeeper.  But  she  was  not  long  recover- 
ing herself. 

"  Miss  Trumbull,  is  it  not  ?  I  was  not  aware  that  you 
were  an  acquaintance  of  Lady  Mary  Montgomery's." 

"  Well,  I  can't  say  as  I  know  her  real  intimate  yet. 
But  I  guess  I  shall  in  time,  as  we  're  both  wives  of 
Congressmen." 

"Ah?  you  are  married?"  Betty  experienced  a 
fleeting  desire  to  see  the  man  who  had  been  capti- 
vated by  Miss  Trumbull. 

"  Ye — as.  I  went  out  West  to  visit  my  sister  after 
I  left  you  and  was  married  before  I  knew  it  —  to  Mr. 
George  Washington  Mudd.  He 's  real  nice,  and 
smart — My!  I  expect  to  be  in  the  White  House 
before  I  die." 

"It  is  among  the  possibilities,  of  course.  I  hope 
you  are  happy,  and  that  meanwhile  he  is  able  to 
take  care  of  you  comfortably."  Mrs.  Mudd  glistened 
with  black  silk  and  jet,  but  the  cut  of  her  gown  was  of 
the  Middle  West. 

"  Well,  I  guess  !  He  's  a  lawyer  and  can  make 
two  hundred  dollars  a  month  any  day.  Of  course  I 
can't  set  up  a  house  in  Washington,  but  I  live  at  the 
Ellsmere,  and  three  or  four  of  us  Congressional  ladies 
receive  together  and  share  carriages.  I  '11  be  happy 
to  have  you  call  —  the  first  and  third  Tuesdays ;  but 
we  always  put  it  in  the  Post." 

"  I  have  little  time  for  calling.  I  am  very  busy  in 
many  ways." 


Senator  North  305 

"  Well,  I  'm  sorry.  You  don't  look  as  well  as  you 
did  up  in  the  mountains ;  you  look  real  tired,  come  to 
examine  you.  But  your  dresses  are  always  so  swell 
one  sees  those  first.  I  always  did  think  you  had  just 
the  prettiest  dresses  I  ever  saw." 

Betty  did  not  turn  her  back  upon  the  woman;  it 
was  a  relief  to  talk  on  any  subject  that  stood  aloof 
from  war.  Mrs.  Mudd  rambled  on. 

"  I  s'pose  you  're  engaged  to  Senator  Burleigh  by  this 
time  ?  He  's  our  Senator,  you  know,  but  I  don't  know 
as  he  's  likely  to  be,  long.  We  want  silver,  and  I  guess 
we  Ve  got  to  have  it." 

"I  suppose  you  take  quite  an  interest  in  politics 
now,"  said  Betty,  looking  at  the  woman's  large  self- 
satisfied  face.  So  far,  matrimony  had  not  been  a  chas- 
tening influence.  Mrs.  Mudd  looked  more  conceited 
than  ever. 

"  Well,  I  guess  I  always  knew  as  much  about  them 
as  anybody ;  and  now  I  'm  in  politics,  I  guess  the  Presi- 
dent could  n't  give  me  many  points.  If  he  don't  de- 
clare war  soon,  I  '11  go  up  to  the  White  House  and  tell 
him  what  I  think  of  him." 

"Suppose  you  make  a  speech  from  the  House 
Gallery.  '  It  is  Congress  that  declares  war,  not  the 
President." 

Mrs.  Mudd's  face  turned  the  dull  red  which  Betty 
well  remembered.  "  I  guess  I  know  what  I  'm  talkin' 
about.  It's  the  President — " 

But  Betty's  back  was  upon  her,  and  Betty  was  listen- 
ing to  the  agitated  comments  of  one  of  the  year's  d£- 
butantes  upon  the  destruction  of  the  Maine. 

"Was  night  ever  so  welcome  before?"  thought 
Betty,  as  she  settled  herself  between  the  four  posts 
20 


306  Senator  North 

of  her  great-aunt's  bed,  a  few  hours  later.  "  Here,  at 
least,  not  an  echo  of  war  can  penetrate,  and  if  I  think 
of  other  things  that  scald  my  pillow,  it  is  almost  a 
relief." 


ON  the  following  evening  she  went  with  the  Montgom- 
erys  to  the  Army  and  Navy  reception  at  the  White 
House.  Lady  Mary  had  but  to  express  a  wish  for  a 
card  to  any  function  in  Washington ;  and  her  popular- 
ity had  much  to  do  with  her  love  for  her  adopted 
country. 

It  was  the  first  time  Betty  ever  had  entered  the  his- 
toric mansion,  and  as  she  waited  for  twenty  minutes  in 
the  crush  of  people  on  the  front  porch,  she  reflected 
that  probably  it  was  the  last. 

But  when  she  was  in  the  great  East  Room,  which  was 
hung  with  flags  and  glittered  with  uniforms,  and  was 
filled  with  the  strains  of  martial  music,  she  thrilled 
again  with  the  historical  sense,  and  almost  wished 
there  was  a  prospect  of  a  war  which  would  compel 
her  to  patriotic  excitement. 

They  remained  in  the  East  Room  for  some  time  be- 
fore going  to  shake  hands  with  the  President,  that  the 
long  queue  of  people  patiently  crawling  to  the  Blue 
Room  might  have  time  to  wear  itself  down  to  a  point. 
As  Betty  stood  there  eagerly  watching  the  scene,  and 
talking  to  first  one  and  then  another  of  the  Army  men 
who  came  up  to  speak  to  her,  she  became  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  fact  that  this  was  the  calmest  function 


Senator  North  307 

she  had  attended  in  Washington  during  the  winter. 
There  was  no  excitement  on  the  faces  of  these  men  in 
uniform,  and  they  said  little  and  hardly  mentioned  the 
subject  of  war.  They  looked  stern  and  thoughtful ; 
and  Betty  felt  proud  of  them,  and  wished  they  were 
doing  themselves  honor  in  a  better  cause. 

She  went  down  the  long  central  corridor  after  a  time, 
past  the  crowd  wedged  before  the  central  door,  gaping 
at  the  receiving  party,  to  a  room  where  she  and  the 
Montgomerys  joined  the  diminished  queue  extending 
from  a  side  entrance  to  the  Blue  Room.  She  was  not 
surprised  to  see  Mrs.  Mudd  in  front  of  her,  for  although 
the  Representative's  wife  should  have  received  a  card 
for  another  evening,  she  was  quite  capable  of  forcing 
her  way  in  without  one;  as  doubtless  a  good  many 
others  had  done  to-night.  She  wore  her  black  silk 
gown  and  her  bonnet,  and  although  most  of  the  women 
present  were  in  brilliant  evening  dress,  Mrs.  Mudd 
had  several  to  keep  her  in  countenance.  She  glanced 
wearily  over  her  shoulder  during  the  slow  progress  of 
the  queue,  and  caught  sight  of  Betty.  Her  place  was 
precious,  but  she  left  it  at  once  and  came  down  the 
line. 

"  I  '11  go  in  along  with  you,"  she  said.  "  George 
could  n't  come  and  I  've  felt  kinder  lonesome  ever 
sence  I  got  here.  And  we  Ve  been  three  quarters  of 
an  hour  gettin'  this  far.  It 's  terrible  tiresome,  but  as 
I  Ve  found  you  I  guess  I  can  stand  the  rest  of  it." 

Betty  detected  the  flicker  of  malice  in  her  former 
housekeeper's  voice.  They  were  on  equal  ground  for 
once,  and  Miss  Madison  and  Mrs.  Mudd  would  shake 
hands  with  their  President  within  consecutive  moments. 
She  smiled  with  some  cynicism,  but  was  too  good- 


3°8 


Senator  North 


natured  to  snub  the  native  ambition  where  it  could  do 
no  harm. 

"I  saw  Senator  North  to-day/'  observed  Mrs. 
Mudd,  "  and  he  looked  Grosser  'n  two  sticks.  He  's 
mad  because  they  '11  have  war  in  spite  of  him.  I  call 
him  right  down  unpatriotic,  and  so  do  lots  of  others." 

"  That  disturbs  him  a  great  deal.  He  is  much  more 
concerned  about  the  country  making  a  fool  of  itself." 

"  This  country  's  all  right,  and  we  could  n't  go  wrong 
if  we  tried.  Them  that  sets  themselves  up  to  be  so 
terrible  superior  are  just  bad  Americans,  that 's  the  long 
and  the  short  of  it,  and  they  '11  find  it  out  at  the  next 
elections.  If  Senator  North  should  take  a  trip  out 
West  just  now,  they  'd  tar  and  feather  him,  and  I  'd 
like  to  be  there  to  see  it  done.  They  can't  say  what 
they  think  of  his  settin'  on  patriotic  Senators  loud 
enough.  And  as  for  the  President  —  " 

"Well,  don't  criticise  the  President  while  you  are 
under  his  roof.  It  is  bad  manners.  Here  we  are. 
Will  you  go  in  first?" 

"  Well,  I  don't  see  why  I  should  n't.  I  '11  hurry  on 
so  they  can  see  your  dress ;  it 's  just  too  lovely  for 
anything." 

Betty  wore  a  white  embroidered  chiffon  over  green  ; 
she  shook  out  the  train,  which  had  been  over  her 
arm  ever  since  she  entered  the  house.  Her  name  was 
announced  in  a  loud  tone,  and  she  entered  the  pretty 
flowery  Blue  Room  with  its  charmingly  dressed  receiv- 
ing party  standing  before  a  large  group  of  favored  and 
critical  friends,  and  facing  the  inquisitive  eyes  in  the 
central  doonvay.  The  President  grasped  her  hand  and 
said,  "  How  do  you  do,  Miss  Madison?"  in  so  pleased 
and  so  cordial  a  tone  that  Betty  for  a  fleeting  moment 


Senator  North  309 

wondered  where  she  could  have  met  him  before.  Then 
she  smiled,  made  a  comprehensive  bow  to  his  wife  and 
the  women  of  the  Cabinet,  and  passed  on.  Mrs. 
Mudd,  who  had  shaken  hands  relentlessly  with  every 
weary  member  of  the  receiving  party,  reached  the  door 
of  exit  after  her  and  clutched  her  by  the  arm. 

"  Say !  "  she  exclaimed  with  excitement,  although 
her  drawl  was  but  half  conquered.  "  Where  do  you 
s'pose  I  could  have  met  the  President  before  ?  I  know 
by  the  way  he  said  '  Mrs.  Mudd,'  he  remembered  me, 
but  I  just  can't  think,  to  save  my  life.  My  !  ain't  he 
fascinating?  " 

Betty  had  laughed  aloud.  "  I  am  sorry  to  hurt  your 
vanity,"  she  replied,  "  but  the  President  is  said  to  have 
the  best  manners  of  any  man  who  has  occupied  the 
White  House  within  living  memory." 

"  What  d'you  mean?"  cried  Mrs.  Mudd,  sharply. 
"  D'  you  mean  he  did  n't  know  me  ?  I  just  know  he 
did,  so  there  !  And  he  can  pack  his  clothes  in  my 
trunk  as  soon  as  he  likes." 

"  Good  heaven  !  " 

"  Oh,  that 's  slang.  I  forgot  you  were  so  terrible 
superior.  But  you  Ve  got  good  cause  to  know  I  'm 
virtuous.  Lands  sakes  !  I  guess  nobody  ever  said 
I  war  n't." 

"  I  don't  fancy  anybody  ever  did." 

They  were  in  the  East  Room  again,  with  the  stars 
and  stripes,  the  moving  glitter  of  gold,  the  loud  hum 
mingled  with  the  distant  strains  of  martial  music. 

"  It 's  really  inspiring,"  said  Lady  Mary.  "  I  wish  I 
could  write  a  war  poem." 

"  I  hope  there  is  nothing  coming  to  inspire  war  dog- 
gerel ;  the  prospect  of  a  new  crop  of  war  stories  and 


3 1  o  Senator  North 

war  plays  is  too  painful.  We  were  all  brought  up  on 
the  Civil  War  and  are  resigned  to  its  literature.  But 
life  is  too  short  to  get  used  to  a  new  variety." 

"  Betty  dear,  ennui  has  embittered  you,  and  I  must 
confess  that  I  am  a  trifle  weary  of  the  war  before  it 
has  begun,  myself.  Randolph,  I  think  I  prefer  you 
should  vote  for  peace." 

"  I  'm  afraid  we  '11  have  no  peace  till  we  've  had 
war  first,"  said  Mr.  Montgomery,  grimly. 

"Oh,  we  're  goin'  to  have  war,"  drawled  Mrs.  Mudd. 
"  Just  don't  you  worry  about  that.  Now  don't  blush," 
she  said  in  Betty's  ear.  "  Senator  North 's  makin' 
straight  for  you.  I  suspicion  you  like  him  better  'n 
Burleigh  —  " 

Betty  had  turned  upon  her  at  last,  and  the  woman 
tittered  nervously  and  fell  back  in  the  crowd. 

Senator  North  and  Miss  Madison  shook  hands  with 
that  absence  of  emotion  which  is  one  of  the  conditions 
of  a  crowded  environment,  and  Lady  Mary  suggested 
they  should  all  go  to  the  conservatory,  where  it  was 
cooler. 

Betty  told  Senator  North  of  the  impression  the  Army 
and  Navy  men  had  made  on  her,  and  he  laughed. 

"  Of  course  they  are  not  excited  and  say  little,"  he 
said.  "  They  will  do  the  acting  and  leave  the  talking 
to  the  private  citizens.  The  only  argument  in  favor 
of  the  war  and  the  large  standing  army  which  might 
be  its  consequence,  is  that  several  hundred  thousand 
more  men  would  have  disciplined  brains  inside  their 
skulls." 

"  That  dreadful  housekeeper  I  had  in  the  Adiron- 
dacks  is  here,  married  to  a  Representative  named 
George  Washington  Mudd." 


Senator  North  3 1 1 

"I  never  heard  of  him,  but  I  am  sorry  she  has 
come  here  to  remind  you  of  what  I  should  like  to 
have  you  forget  for  a  time.  I  do  believe  a  speci- 
men of  every  queer  fish  in  the  country  comes  to  this 
pond." 

They  passed  one  of  the  bands,  and  conversation  was 
impossible  until  they  entered  the  great  conservatory 
with  its  wide  cool  walks  among  the  green.  It  was  not 
crowded,  and  although  there  was  no  seclusion  in  it  at 
any  time,  its  lights  were  few  and  it  had  a  sequestered 
atmosphere. 

Betty  and  Senator  North  involuntarily  drew  closer 
together. 

"  In  a  way  I  am  happy  now,"  she  said.  "  It  is 
something  to  be  with  you  and  close  to  you.  I  will  not 
think  of  how  much  this  may  lack  until  I  am  alone 
again  and  there  is  no  limit  to  my  wants." 

"  I  feel  the  reverse  of  depressed,"  he  said,  smiling. 
"  Are  you  quite  well?  You  look  a  little  tired." 

"  I  am  tired  with  much  thinking ;  but  that  is  inevi- 
table. One  cannot  love  hopelessly  and  look  one's  best. 
I  always  despised  the  heroines  of  romance  who  went 
into  a  decline,  but  Nature  demands  some  tribute  in 
spite  of  the  strongest  will." 

He  held  her  arm  more  closely,  but  he  set  his 
lips  and  did  not  answer.  She  spoke  again  after  a 
moment. 

"  Since  that  night  I  have  not  been  nearly  so  un- 
happy, however.  I  even  feel  gay  sometimes,  and  my 
sense  of  humor  has  come  back.  It  would  be  quite 
dreadful  to  go  through  life  without  that,  but  I  thought 
I  had  lost  it." 

He  had  turned  his  eyes  and  was  regarding  her  in- 


3  i  2  Senator  North 

tently ;  but  much  as  she  loved  them  she  felt  as  help- 
less as  ever  before  their  depths.  They  could  pierce 
and  burn,  but  they  never  were  limpid  for  a  moment. 

"You  do  not  misunderstand  that?"  she  asked  hur- 
riedly. "  It  does  not  mean  that  I  love  you  less,  but 
more,  if  anything.  And  I  am  not  resigned  !  Only,  1 
feel  as  if  in  some  way  I  had  received  a  little  help,  as 
if —  I  cannot  express  it." 

"  I  understand  you  perfectly.  We  are  a  little  closer 
than  we  were,  and  life  is  not  quite  so  gray." 

"  That  is  it.  And  I  would  supplement  your  bare 
statement  of  the  fact,  if  I  dared." 

"  If  you  do,  I  certainly  shall  kiss  you  right  here  in 
the  crowd,"  he  said,  and  they  smiled  into  each  other's 
eyes.  There  was  little  need  of  explanations  between 
them. 

"That  would  form  a  brief  diversion  for  Washington. 
And  as  for  Mrs.  Mudd  —  By  the  way,  I  hope  I  am 
not  going  off.  You  are  the  second  person  who  has 
told  me  that  I  am  not  looking  well." 

"  You  are  improved  as  far  as  I  am  concerned.  And 
if  you  ever  faded,  happiness  would  restore  you  at  once. 
If  happiness  never  came,  perhaps  you  would  not  care 
—  would  you  ?  " 

She  shrugged  her  beautiful  shoulders  and  smiled 
quizzically. 

"  I  don't  know.  Je  sm's  femme.  I  think  I  might 
always  find  some  measure  of  consolation  in  the  mirror 
if  it  behaved  properly." 

"  Your  sincerity  is  one  of  your  charms.  So  walk 
and  eat  and  live  in  the  world,  and  think  as  little  as  you 
can." 

"This  conservatory  is  fearfully  draughty,"  remarked 


Senator  North  313 

Lady  Mary,  close  to  Betty's  shoulder.     "  I   don't  want 
to  stay  all  night,  do  you?  " 

"  I  am  ready,"  said  Betty ;  but  she  sighed,  for  she 
had  been  almost  happy  for  the  hour. 


XI 

IF  the  reception  at  the  White  House  had  been  calm, 
Betty's  salon  on  the  following  evening  was  not.  On 
Tuesday  the  House,  after  duly  relieving  its  feelings  by 
an  hour  and  a  half  of  war  talk,  flaming  with  every 
variety  of  patriotism,  passed  the  bill  appropriating 
$50,000,000  for  the  national  defence.  On  Wednesday 
the  bill  passed  the  Senate  without  a  word  beyond  the 
"  ayes  "  of  its  members.  On  the  morrow  the  War 
Department  would  begin  the  mobilization  of  the  army ; 
and  although  the  Maine  Court  of  Inquiry  had  not  com- 
pleted its  labors,  the  New  York  World,  in  the  interest 
of  curious  humanity,  had  instituted  a  submarine  in- 
quiry of  its  own  and  given  the  result  to  the  country. 
Even  Senator  North  regarded  war  as  almost  inevitable, 
although  the  controvertible  proof  of  explosion  from 
without  only  involved  the  Spanish  by  inference. 

The  women  who  were  privileged  to  attend  the  now 
famous  salon  wore  their  freshest  and  most  becoming 
gowns,  and  most  of  the  Senators  would  have  been  glad 
to  have  frivoled  away  the  evening  in  compliments,  so 
refreshing  was  the  sight  of  an  attractive  face  after  a 
long  and  anxious  day.  But  the  eyes  of  the  women 
sparkled  with  patriotic  fire  only.  One  burst  into  tears 
and  others  threatened  hysterics,  but  got  through  the 


314  Senator  North 

evening  comfortably.  Mrs.  Madison  sat  on  a  sofa  and 
fanned  herself  nervously ;  Senator  Maxwell  and  Senator 
North  at  her  request  kept  close  to  her  side. 

"  They  were  not  so  excited  during  the  Civil  War," 
she  exclaimed,  as  a  shrill  voice  smote  her  ear.  "  I 
suppose  we  have  developed  more  nerves  or  something." 

"  The  mind  was  possessed  by  the  Grim  Fact  during 
the  Civil  War,"  said  Senator  Maxwell.  "This  is  a 
second-rate  thing  that  appeals  to  the  nerves  and  not 
to  the  soul." 

Betty,  who  understood  the  patient  longing  of  her 
statesmen  for  variety,  had  imported  for  the  evening 
several  members  of  the  troupe  singing  at  the  Metro- 
politan Opera  House.  Conversation  consequently  was 
interrupted  six  or  seven  times,  but  it  burst  forth  with 
increased  vigor  at  the  end  of  every  song ;  and  when  the 
Polish  tenor  with  mistaken  affability  sang  "  The  Star- 
Spangled  Banner,"  the  women  and  some  of  the  younger 
men  took  it  up  with  such  vehemence  that  Mrs.  Madi- 
son put  her  fingers  to  her  ears.  When  one  girl  jumped 
on  a  chair  and  waved  her  handkerchief,  which  she  had 
painted  red,  white,  and  blue,  the  unwilling  hostess 
asked  Senator  North  if  he  thought  Betty  would  be  able 
to  keep  her  head  till  the  end  of  the  evening,  or  would 
be  excited  to  some  extraordinary  antic. 

"  There  is  not  the  least  danger,"  he  replied  sooth- 
ingly. "  Miss  Madison  could  manage  to  look  impas- 
sive if  a  cyclone  were  raging  within  her.  It  is  a  long 
while  since  the  Americans  have  had  a  chance  to  be 
excited.  You  must  make  allowances." 

Betty  for  some  time  had  suppressed  her  Populist 
with  difficulty.  He  was  one  of  those  Americans  to  whom 
a  keen  thin  face  and  a  fair  education  give  the  superfi- 


Senator  North  315 

cial  appearance  of  refinement.  In  a  country  as  demo- 
cratic as  the  United  States  and  where  schooling  and 
intelligence  are  so  widespread,  it  is  possible  for  many 
half-bred  men  to  create  a  good  impression  when  in  an 
equable  frame  of  mind.  But  excitement  tears  their 
thin  coat  of  gentility  in  twain,  and  Betty  already  re- 
gretted having  invited  Armstrong  to  her  salon.  He 
nad  not  missed  a  Thursday  evening,  for  he  not  only 
appreciated  the  social  advantage  of  a  footing  in  such  a 
house,  but  his  clever  mind  enjoyed  the  conversation 
there,  and  the  frankly  expressed  opinions  of  well-bred 
people  who  argued  without  acerbity  and  never  called 
each  other  names.  With  his  slender  well-dressed 
figure  and  bright  fair  sharply  cut  face,  he  by  no  means 
looked  an  alien,  and  if  he  could  have  corrected  the 
habit  of  contradicting  people  up  and  down  —  to  say 
nothing  of  his  occasional  indulgence  in  the  Congres- 
sional snort  —  his  manners  would  have  passed  muster 
in  any  gathering.  He  was  a  good  specimen  of  the 
ambitious  American  of  obscure  birth  and  clever  but 
shallow  brain,  quick  to  seize  every  opportunity  for  ad- 
vancement. But  politics  were  his  strongest  instinct, 
and  exciting  crises  stifled  every  other. 

He  was  very  much  excited  to-night,  for  he  had,  during 
the  afternoon,  tried  three  times  to  bring  in  a  war  reso- 
lution, and  thrice  been  extinguished  by  the  Speaker. 
When  the  tenor  started  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner," 
he  braced  himself  against  the  wall  and  sang  at  the  top 
of  his  lungs  \  and  the  performance  seemed  to  lash  his 
temper  rather  than  relieve  it.  He  twice  raised  his  voice 
to  unburden  his  mind,  and  was  distracted  by  Betty,  who 
kept  him  close  beside  her.  Finally  she  attempted  to 
change  the  subject  by  chatting  of  personal  matters. 


316  Senator  North 

"  I  went  to  the  White  House  last  night,"  she  said, 
"  and  was  delighted  to  find  that  the  President  had  the 
most  charming  manners  —  " 

"What 's  a  manner?  "  interrupted  Armstrong,  roughly. 
"  You  women  are  all  alike.  I  suppose  you  'd  turn  up 
your  nose  at  William  J.  Bryan  because  he  ain't  what 
you  call  a  gentleman.  But  if  he  were  in  the  White 
House  instead  of  that  milk-and-water  puppet  of  Wall 
Street,  we  'd  be  shooting  those  murderers  down  in  Cuba 
as  we  ought  to  be.  The  President  and  the  whole 
Republican  party,"  he  shouted,  "  are  a  lot  of  hogs 
who  've  chawed  so  much  gold  their  digestion  won't 
work  and  their  brains  are  torpid  ;  and  there  's  nothing 
to  do  but  to  kick  them  into  this  war  —  the  whole 
greedy,  white-livered,  Trust-owned,  thieving  lot  of 
them,  including  that  great  immaculate  Joss  up  at  the 
White  House  with  his  manners.  Damn  his  manners  ! 
They  come  too  high  —  " 

"Armstrong,"  said  Burleigh  soothingly,  but  with  a 
glint  in  his  eye,  "  I  have  an  important  communication 
to  make  to  you.  Will  you  come  out  into  the  hall  a 
moment?"  He  passed  his  arm  through  the  Populist's, 
and  led  him  unresistingly  away. 

Betty  glanced  at  her  mother.  Mrs.  Madison  was 
fanning  herself  with  an  air  of  profound  satisfaction. 
As  she  met  her  daughter's  eyes,  she  raised  her  brows, 
and  her  whole  being  breathed  the  content  of  the  suc- 
cessful prophetess.  Senator  North  looked  grimly 
amused.  Betty  turned  away  hastily.  She  felt  much 
like  laughing,  herself. 

Burleigh  returned  alone.  "  I  took  the  liberty  of  tell- 
ing him  to  go  and  not  to  come  again,"  he  said.  "  That 
sort  of  man  never  apologizes,  so  you  are  rid  of  him." 


Senator  North  317 

Betty  smiled  and  thanked  him ;  then  she  frowned  a 
little,  for  she  saw  several  people  glance  significantly  at 
each  other.  She  knew  that  Washington  took  it  for 
granted  she  would  marry  Burleigh. 

They  went  in  to  supper  a  few  moments  later,  and  in 
that  admirable  meal  the  weary  statesmen  found  the 
solace  that  woman  denied  him.  And  the  flowers  were 
fragrant,  the  candlelight  was  grateful  to  tired  eyes,  and 
the  champagne  unrivalled.  Until  the  toasts  —  which 
in  this  agitated  time  had  become  a  necessary  feature 
of  the  salon  —  the  conversation,  under  the  tactful  man- 
agement of  Betty  and  several  of  her  friends,  and  the 
diverting  influence  of  the  great  singers,  was  but  a  sub- 
dued hum  about  nothing  in  particular.  When  at  the 
end  of  an  hour  Burleigh  rose  impulsively  and  proposed 
the  health  of  the  President,  even  the  Democrats  re- 
sponded with  as  much  warmth  as  courtesy. 

"  You  manage  your  belligerents  very  well,"  said  Sen- 
ator North,  when  he  shook  her  hand  awhile  later. 
"  Yours  has  probably  been  the  only  amiable  supper- 
room  in  Washington  to-night." 


XII 


"  Now !  "  exclaimed  Sally  Carter,  who  was  sobbing 
hysterically,  "  I  hope  they  will  impeach  the  Presi- 
dent if  he  delays  any  longer  with  the  Maine  report  and 
if  he  doesn't  send  a  warlike  message  on  top  of  it. 
After  that  speech  I  don't  see  why  Congress  should 
wait  for  him  at  all." 


3i 8  Senator  North 

It  was  the  seventeenth  of  March,  and  she  and  Betty 
were  driving  home  from  the  Capitol  after  listening  to 
the  Senator  from  Vermont  on  the  situation  in  Cuba,  — 
to  that  cold,  bare,  sober  statement  of  the  result  of  per- 
sonal investigation,  which  produced  a  far  deeper  and 
more  historical  impression  than  all  the  impassioned 
rhetoric  which  had  rent  the  air  since  the  agitation 
began.  He  appeared  to  have  no  feeling  on  the  mat- 
ter, no  personal  bias ;  he  told  what  he  had  seen,  and 
he  had  seen  misery,  starvation,  and  wholesale  death. 
He  blamed  the  Spaniards  no  more  than  the  insurgents, 
but  two  hundred  thousand  people  were  the  victims  of 
both ;  and  the  bold  yet  careful  etching  he  made  of  the 
Cuban  drama  burnt  itself  into  the  brains  of  the  forty-six 
Senators  present  and  of  the  eight  hundred  people  in 
the  galleries. 

"  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  think  that  death  is  the 
worst  of  all  evils,"  said  Betty,  "  and  I  do  not  think  that 
we  have  any  right  to  go  to  war  with  Spain,  no  matter 
what  she  chooses  to  do  with  her  own.  Besides,  she  is 
thoroughly  frightened  now,  and  I  believe  would  rectify 
her  mistakes  in  an  even  greater  measure  than  she  has 
already  tried  to  do,  if  the  President  were  given  time  to 
handle  her  with  tact  and  diplomacy.  If  the  country 
would  give  him  a  chance  to  save  her  pride,  war  could 
be  averted." 

"  You  are  heartless  !  Don't  argue  with  me.  I  hate 
argument  when  my  emotions  feel. as  if  they  had  dyna- 
mite in  them.  I  could  sit  down  on  the  floor  of  the 
Senate  and  scream  until  war  was  declared.  I  hate 
Senator  North.  He  never  moved  a  muscle  of  his  face 
during  all  that  terrible  recital.  He  hardly  looked 
interested.  He  is  a  heartless  brute." 


Senator  North  319 

"  He  is  not  heartless.  He  fears  everlasting  compli- 
cations if  we  go  to  war  with  Spain,  the  expenditure  of 
hundreds  of  millions,  as  one  result  of  those  complica- 
tions, and  danger  to  the  Constitution.  The  statesman 
thinks  of  his  own  country  first  —  " 

"  I  won't  listen  !  I  won't !  I  won't !  Oh,  I  never 
thought  I  could  get  so  excited  about  anything.  I  be- 
lieve I  'm  going  to  have  nervous  prostration,  and  I 
sha'n't  see  you  again -till  war  is  declared.  So  there  !  " 

The  carriage  stopped  at  her  house,  and  she  jumped 
out  and  ran  up  the  steps.  She  kept  her  word,  and  it 
was  weeks  before  Betty  saw  her  to  speak  to  again. 

"  If  intelligent  people  get  into  that  condition," 
thought  Betty,  "  what  can  be  expected  of  the  fools  ? 
And  the  fools  are  more  dangerous  in  the  United  States 
than  elsewhere,  because  they  are  just  bright  enough  to 
think  that  they  know  more  than  the  Almighty  ever 
knew  in  His  best  days." 

A  few  days  later  she  was  crossing  Statuary  Hall  on 
her  way  back  from  the  House  Gallery,  whither  she  had 
gone  during  an  Executive  Session  of  the  Senate,  when 
she  met  Senator  North.  His  face  illuminated  as  he 
saw  her,  and  they  both  turned  spontaneously  and  went 
to  a  bench  behind  the  immortal  ones  of  the  Republic, 
who  in  dust  and  marble  were  happier  than  their 
inheritors  to-day. 

"  I  am  thinking  of  coming  down  here  to  live,  rent- 
ing a  Committee  Room,"  said  Betty.  "  It  is  the  only 
place  where  I  do  not  have  my  opinion  asked  and 
where  I  do  not  quarrel  with  my  friends.  Molly  is 
sure  I  shall  be  taken  for  a  lobbyist,  and  if  people 
were  not  too  absorbed  t©  notice  me,  I  think  I  should 
engage  a  companion  j  but  as  it  is,  I  believe  I  am  safe 


320  Senator  North 

enough.  I  have  had  this  simple  brown  serge  made, 
on  purpose." 

"  There  is  not  the  least  danger  of  your  motives 
being  misconstrued,  and  the  Capitol  is  swarming  with 
women,  all  the  time.  They  seem  to  regard  it  as  a  sort 
of  National  Theatre,  where  the  most  exciting  de"noue- 
ment  may  take  place  any  minute.  I  fancy  they  have 
come  from  all  over  the  country  for  the  satisfaction  of 
being  able  to  say,  for  the  rest  of  their  lives,  that  they 
were  in  at  the  death.  The  poor  Capitol  has  become  a 
sort  of  asylum  for  wandering  lunatics." 

Betty  laughed.  "  I  feel  calmer  here  than  any- 
where else,  especially  now  that  Molly  has  gone  over  to 
the  Cubans  since  the  publication  of  that  speech.  I 
suspect  it  has  made  a  good  many  other  converts.  I 
did  n't  think  the  tide  of  excitement  in  the  country 
could  rise  any  higher,  but  it  appears  to  have  needed 
that  last  straw.  Have  you  any  hope  left?  " 

"  None  whatever.  The  politicians  in  both  parties 
are  rushing  the  President  off  his  feet  and  inflaming  the 
country  at  the  same  time.  Sincere  sympathizers  with 
Cuba,  like  Burleigh,  are  holding  their  peace  until  the 
President  shall  have  declared  himself,  but  there  is  very 
little  patriotism  amongst  politicians  desirous  of  re- 
election. If  Spain  were  a  quick-thinking  nation  and 
were  not  stultified  by  a  mulish  obstinacy  for  which 
the  word  '  pride '  is  a  euphemism,  or  if  the  President 
could  hypnotize  the  country  for  six  months,  all  would 
be  well,  but  I  do  not  look  for  a  miracle.  I  have  done 
all  I  can.  I  have  persuaded  my  own  State  to  keep 
quiet,  and  that  has  lessened  the  pressure  a  little ;  and 
I  have  persuaded  no  less  than  eight  of  our  bellicose 
members  to  say  nothing  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate 


Senator  North  321 

until  the  President  has  sent  in  his  message,  —  that  delay 
is  necessary  if  we  are  to  meet  war  with  any  sort  of 
preparation.  That  is  all  I  can  do,  for  I  don't  care  to 
speak  on  the  subject  again,  to  bring  it  up  in  the  Senate 
until  it  no  longer  can  be  held  down.  But  I  have  said 
a  good  deal  in  the  lobby." 

"  I  suspect  you  have  !  Do  you  mind  all  the  talk  about 
your  being  unpatriotic,  and  that  sort  of  thing  ?  I  cried 
for  an  hour  the  other  day  over  an  article  in  a  New 
York  paper,  headed  '  A  Traitor,'  and  saying  the  most 
hideous  things  about  you." 

"  I  did  n't  read  it.  And  don't  spoil  your  eyes  over 
anything  sensational  American  newspapers  may  say  of 
anybody;  let  them  alone  and  read  the  few  decent 
ones.  For  a  public  man  to  worry  over  such  assaults 
would  be  a  stupid  waste  of  his  mental  energy ;  for  if  he 
is  in  the  right  he  consoles  himself  with  the  reflection  that 
the  traitor  of  to-day  is  the  patriot  of  to-morrow.  But 
let  politics  go  to  the  winds  for  a  little.  Tell  me  some- 
thing about  yourself.  I  have  started  no  less  than  four 
times  to  go  to  see  you  —  at  half-past  six  in  the  after- 
noon—  and  turned  back." 

"  I  go  there  and  sit  almost  every  afternoon.  This 
excitement  has  been  a  godsend.  If  the  world  had 
been  pursuing  its  even  way  during  the  last  two  months, 
I  don't  know  what  would  have  happened  to  me. 
What  am  I  to  do  when  it  is  over?"  she  broke  out, 
for  they  were  almost  secluded.  "  The  more  I  think 
of  the  future  the  more  hopeless  it  seems.  If  there  is 
war,  I  '11  go  as  a  nurse  —  " 

"  You  will  do  nothing  of  the  sort.  Promise  me  that  — 
instantly.  There  will  be  trained  nurses  without  end,  and 
you  would  run  the  risk  of  fever  for  nothing.  Promise  me." 


322  Senator  North 

"  But  I  must  do  something.  I  have  hours  that  you 
cannot  imagine.  Ordinarily  I  keep  up  very  well,  for  I 
have  character  enough  to  make  the  best  of  life,  what- 
ever happens;  but  one  can  control  one's  heart  with 
one's  will  just  so  long  and  no  longer.  When  the  world 
is  quiet  and  I  am  alone  at  night,  if  I  don't  go  to  sleep 
at  once  —  it  is  terrible  !  Do  you  think  I  should  be 
afraid  of  death  ?  If  I  have  got  to  go  through  life  with 
this  terrible  ache  in  my  heart,  in  my  whole  body  —  for 
when  I  cry  my  very  fingers  cramp  —  I  'd  a  thousand 
times  rather  go  to  Cuba  and  have  done  with  it." 

For  a  moment  he  only  stared  at  her.  Then  he 
parted  his  lips  as  if  to  speak,  but  closed  them  again  so 
firmly  that  Betty  wondered  what  he  was  holding  back. 
But  his  eyes,  although  they  had  flashed  for  a  moment 
and  burned  still,  told  her  nothing.  He  did  not  speak 
for  fully  a  minute.  Then  he  said,  — 

"Death  can  be  met  with  fortitude  by  any  strong 
brain,  but  not  a  lifetime  of  miserable  invalidism.  If 
you  contracted  fever  down  there,  you  might  get  rid  of 
it  in  several  years  and  you  might  not.  Meanwhile," 
he  added,  smiling,  "  you  would  become  yellow  and 
wrinkled.  So  promise  me  at  once  that  you  will  not 
go." 

"  I  swear  it !  "  she  said  with  an  attempt  at  gayety. 
"  Not  even  for  you  will  I  get  yellow  and  wrinkled  — 
and  I  adore  you  !  Tell  me,"  she  went  on  rapidly  and 
with  little  further  attempt  at  self-control ;  "  what  shall 
I  do  next?  Shall  I  go  abroad?  There  is  no  dis- 
traction in  castles  and  cathedrals  and  crooked  streets ; 
they  must  be  enjoyed  when  one  is  idle  and  tranquil. 
I  'm  tired  of  pictures.  I  suppose  I  've  seen  about 
twenty  miles  of  them  in  my  life.  As  for  the  old  mas- 


Senator  North  323 

ters  they  give  me  nightmares.  There  is  nothing  left 
but  society,  and  I  don't  like  foreigners  and  should  find 
little  novelty  in  England  —  and  many  reminders  !  The 
future  appalls  me.  I  cannot  face  it.  Am  I  inconsider- 
ate to  talk  like  this  when  you  are  so  worried  ?  Some- 
times I  feel  that  I  have  no  right  to  be  even  sensible  of 
my  individuality  when  a  whole  nation  is  convulsed ;  it 
seems  almost  absurd  that  there  are  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  tragedies  within  the  great  one  —  but  there  are  ! 
there  are  !  And  the  war  will  bring  oblivion  to  only 
those  to  whom  it  brings  death." 

She  stopped,  panting,  after  the  torrent  of  words. 
His  hand  had  closed  about  her  arm,  and  he  was  bend- 
ing close  above  her.  His  face  had  flushed  deeply,  and 
once  more  he  opened  his  lips  as  if  to  speak,  but  did 
not.  Betty  shook  suddenly.  Was  the  word  he  would 
not  utter  "Wait"?  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  a 
word  struggled  for  utterance,  and  that  he  held  it  back. 
If  he  did  not,  Betty  felt  that  her  love  would  turn  cold. 
For  a  great  love  may  be  killed  by  a  sudden  blow,  and 
there  is  always  some  one  thing  that  will  kill  the  great- 
est. But  she  wished  that  his  brain  would  flash  its 
message  to  hers. 

The  silence  between  them  became  so  intense  and 
the  strain  on  her  eyes  so  intolerable  that  she  dropped 
her  head  and  fumbled  with  her  muff.  She  dared  not 
speak,  dared  not  divert  his  mind.  He  was  too  much 
the  master  of  his  own  fate. 

"  Don't  ever  hesitate  to  speak  out  through  considera- 
tion for  me,  my  dear,"  he  said.  "  The  only  relief  we  both 
have  is  to  speak  our  thoughts  occasionally.  And  you 
can  tell  me  nothing  of  yourself  that  I  do  not  know  al- 
ready. I  never  forget  that  you  are  tormented.  But 


324  Senator  North 

Time  will  help  you.  The  future  which  looms  with  a 
few  dull  and  insupportable  Facts  is  crowded  with  small 
details  which  consume  both  time  and  thought,  and  it 
is  full  of  little  unexpected  pleasures.  War  is  very 
diverting.  One's  attitude  to  a  war  after  the  first  few 
shocks  is  as  to  a  great  military  drama.  If  by  a  miracle 
ours  should  be  averted,  then  go  to  England,  where  you 
will  have  men  at  least  to  talk  to.  When  plans  for  the 
future  are  futile,  live  in  the  present  and  be  careful 
to  make  no  mistake.  It  is  the  only  philosophy  for 
those  who  are  not  in  the  favor  of  Circumstance.  I 
am  going  now.  Bend  your  ear  closer.  I  have  had 
so  little  opportunity  to  be  tender  with  you,  and  I  have 
thought  of  that  as  much  as  of  anything  else." 

Betty  inclined  her  head  eagerly,  and  he  whispered  to 
her  for  a  moment,  then  left  her. 

For  a  few  moments  she  did  not  move.  The  buoy- 
ancy of  her  nature  was  still  considerable,  and  his  last 
words  had  thrilled  her  and  made  her  almost  as  happy 
as  if  he  would  return  in  an  hour.  She  rose  finally  and 
walked  across  the  hall,  her  inclination  divided  between 
the  Senate  Gallery  where  she  might  look  at  him,  and 
her  boudoir  where  she  might  fling  herself  on  her  divan 
and  think  of  him.  As  she  was  moving  along  slowly, 
seeing  no  one,  her  arm  was  caught  by  a  bony  hand, 
and  a  familiar  drawl  smote  her  ear. 

"  Laws,  Miss  Madison,  have  you  gone  blind  all  of  a 
sudden?  But  you  look  as  if  you  had  two  stars  in  your 
eyes." 

"  How  do  you  do,  Mrs.  Mudd  ?  These  are  times 
to  make  anybody  absent-minded." 

"  Well,  I  guess  !  We  're  gettin'  there  and  no  mis- 
take. Now  look  quick,  Miss  Madison  —  there  's  my 


Senator  North  325 

husband,  the  one  that's  just  got  up  off  that  bench. 
He  's  been  talkin'  to  a  constituent." 

Betty  glanced  across  the  Hall  with  some  interest : 
she  occasionally  had  doubted  the  reality  of  George 
Washington  Mudd.  A  tall  stout  man  in  a  loose  black 
overcoat,  a  black  slouch  hat,  and  a  big  cotton  umbrella 
under  his  arm,  was  stalking  across  the  Hall  with  his 
head  in  the  air,  as  if  to  sniff  at  the  marble  effigies  of  the 
great.  Betty  felt  young  again  and  gave  a  delighted  laugh. 

"  Why,  I  did  n't  know  there  really  was  anything  like 
that !  "  she  cried.  "  I  thought  —  " 

"  Well,  I  guess  I  'd  like  to  know  what  you  mean," 
exclaimed  an  infuriate  voice;  and  Betty,  turning  to 
Mrs.  Mudd's  dark  red  face,  recovered  herself  instantly. 

"  I  mean  that  your  husband  belongs  to  a  type  that 
our  dramatists  have  thought  worthy  of  preservation 
and  of  exercising  their  finest  art  upon.  I  often  give 
writers  credit  for  more  creative  ability  than  they  pos- 
sess, for  I  always  am  seeing  some  one  in  real  life  whose 
entire  type  I  had  supposed  had  come  straight  out  of 
their  genius.  Take  yourself,  for  instance.  If  I  had  not 
met  you  outside  of  a  book,  I  should  have  thought  you 
a  triumph  of  imagination." 

"  Well  —  thanks,"  drawled  Mrs.  Mudd,  mollified 
though  doubtful.  "  I  don't  claim  that  George  is  hand- 
some, but  he  's  the  smartest  man  in  our  district  and 
he  '11  make  the  House  sit  up  yet."  She  giggled  and 
rolled  her  eyes.  "  He  was  downright  jealous  because 
I  came  home  from  the  reception  and  raved  over  the 
President,"  she  announced.  "  Oh,  my  !  " 

"  Perhaps  he  's  a  Populist,"  suggested  Betty. 

"  Not  much  he  ain't.  He  's  a  good  Democrat  with 
Silver  principles." 


326  Senator  North 

"  Well,  I  'm  glad  you  're  happy.     Good-afternoon." 
"  I  love  the  greatest  man  in  America  and  she  loves 
George    Washington    Mudd,"    thought    Betty,    as    she 
walked  down  the  corridor.     "  Mortals  die,  but  love  is 
imperishable.    A  half-century  hence  and  where  will  the 
love  that  dwells  in  every  fibre  of  me  now,  have  gone? 
Will  it  be  dust  with  my  dust,  or  vigorous  with  eternal 
youth  in  some  poor  girl  who  never  heard  my  name?  " 
And  then  she  went  home  to  her  boudoir. 


XIII 

BETTY,  who  had  come  justly  to  the  conclusion  that  she 
knew  something  of  politics  after  a  year's  application  to 
the  science  and  several  object  lessons,  made  in  the 
following  weeks  her  first  acquaintance  with  the  in- 
tricacies which  sometimes  may  involve  political  motives. 
The  President  was  not  given  time  to  exhaust  diplo- 
macy with  Spain,  although  in  his  War  Message  he  was 
obliged  to  state  that  he  had  done  so.  To  deal  suc- 
cessfully with  a  proud  and  mediaeval  country  required 
months,  not  days,  and  as  Spain  had  grudgingly  but 
surely  yielded  all  along  the  line  to  the  demands  of  the 
United  States,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  she  would  have 
withdrawn  peacefully  her  forces  from  Cuba  if  her 
pride  could  have  been  saved.  Sagasta  was  working  in 
the  interests  of  peace ;  but  a  bigoted  old  country,  too 
indolent  to  read  history,  and  puzzled  at  a  youthful 
nation's  industry  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  would  move 
so  fast  and  no  faster. 

The  President  was  rushed  off  his  feet  and  his  hand 
was    forced.     An   honest   but   delirious   country   was 


Senator  North  327 

threatening  impeachment  and  clamoring  for  war.  Its 
representatives  were  hammering  on  the  doors  of  the 
White  House  and  shrieking  in  Congress.  A  dishonest 
press  was  inflaming  it  and  injuring  it  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world  by  assaulting  the  integrity  of  the  Executive  and 
of  the  leading  men  in  both  Houses  ;  and  unscrupulous 
politicians  were  extracting  every  possible  party  advan- 
tage, until  it  looked  as  if  the  Democratic  party,  rent 
asunder  by  Mr.  Bryan  and  his  doctrines,  would  be  uni- 
fied once  more.  The  House,  after  the  President's 
calm  and  impersonal  message  on  the  Maine  report, 
acted  like  a  mutinous  school  of  bad  boys  who  had  not 
been  taught  the  first  principles  of  breeding  and  dignity ; 
the  few  gentlemen  in  it  hardly  tried  to  make  them- 
selves heard,  and  even  the  Speaker  was  powerless  to 
quell  a  couple  of  hundred  tempers  all  rampant  at 
once.  Every  conceivable  insult  was  heaped  upon 
the  head  of  the  President  as  he  delayed  his  War 
Message  from  day  to  day,  hoping  against  hope,  and 
gaining  what  time  he  could  to  strengthen  the  Navy. 

It  became  necessary  therefore  for  the  high-class  men 
in  the  Senate,  particularly  the  Republicans,  to  present 
an  unbroken  front.  Whatever  the  conclusions  of  the 
President,  they  must  stand  by  him.  It  was  their  duty 
as  Americans  first  and  Republicans  after ;  for  they  had 
elected  him  to  the  high  and  representative  office  he 
filled,  they  were  responsible  for  him,  he  had  done 
nothing  to  forfeit  their  confidence,  and  everything,  by 
his  wise  and  conservative  course,  to  win  their  approval. 
And  it  was  their  duty  to  their  party  to  uphold  him,  for 
internal  dissensions  in  this  great  crisis  would  weaken 
their  forces  and  play  them  into  the  hands  of  the  Dem- 
ocrats. Therefore,  Senator  North  and  others,  who  had 


328  Senator  North 

strenuously  and  consistently  opposed  war  from  any 
cause,  until  it  became  evident  that  the  President  had 
been  elbowed  into  the  position  of  a  puppet  by  his  peo- 
ple instead  of  being  permitted  to  guide  them,  with- 
drew their  opposition,  and  when  his  Message  finally 
was  forced  from  his  hand,  let  it  be  known  that  they 
should  support  it  against  the  powerful  faction  in  the 
Senate  which  demanded  the  recognition  of  Cuba  as  a 
Republic.  The  Message  meant  war,  but  a  war  that 
no  longer  could  be  averted,  and  there  was  nothing  left 
for  any  high-minded  statesman  and  loyal  party  man  to 
do  but  to  defend  the  President  from  those  who  would 
usurp  his  authority  and  tie  his  hands,  to  demonstrate 
to  the  world  their  belief  in  a  statesmanship  which  was 
being  attacked  at  every  point  by  those  whom  his  Mes- 
sage had  disappointed,  and  to  provide  against  one 
future  embarrassment  the  more. 

When  Betty  had  trodden  the  maze  this  far,  she 
realized  the  unenviable  position  of  the  conservative 
faction  in  the  Senate.  North's  position  was  particu- 
larly unpleasant.  He  had  stood  to  the  country  as  the 
embodiment  of  its  conservative  spirit,  the  spirit  which 
was  opposed  uncompromisingly  to  this  war.  Several 
days  before  the  speech  of  the  Senator  from  Vermont 
exploded  the  inflamed  nervous  system  of  the  country,  he 
had  made  an  address  which  had  been  copied  in  every 
State  in  the  Union  and  been  hopefully  commented  on 
abroad.  In  this  speech,  which  was  a  passionless,  im- 
personal, and  judicial  argument  against  interference  in 
the  domestic  affairs  of  a  friendly  nation  seeking  to 
put  down  an  insurgent  population  whose  record  for 
butchery  and  crime  equalled  her  own,  as  well  as  a 
brilliant  forecast  of  the  evils,  foreign  and  domestic, 


Senator  North  329 

which  must  follow  such  a  war,  he  demonstrated  that  if 
war  was  declared  at  this  period  it  would  be  unjustifi- 
able because  it  would  be  the  direct  result  of  the  acci- 
dent to  the  Maine,  which,  as  the  explosion  could  not 
be  traced  to  the  Spanish  officials,  was  not  a  casus  belli. 
Prior  to  that  accident  no  important  or  considerable 
number  of  the  American  people  had  clamored  for  war, 
only  for  according  belligerent  rights  to  the  Cubans, 
which  measure  they  were  not  wise  enough  to  see  would 
lead  to  war.  Therefore,  had  the  Maine  incident  not 
occurred,  the  President  would  have  been  given  the 
necessary  time  for  successful  diplomacy,  despite  the 
frantic  efforts  of  the  press  and  the  loud-voiced  minor- 
ity; and  it  could  not  be  claimed  that  the  present 
clamor,  dating  from  the  fifteenth  of  February,  was 
honestly  in  behalf  of  the  suffering  Cuban.  It  was 
for  revenge,  and  it  was  an  utterly  unreasonable  demand 
for  revenge,  as  no  sane  man  believed  that  Spain  had 
seized  the  first  opportunity  to  cut  her  throat;  and 
until  it  could  be  proved  that  she  had  done  so,  it  was  a 
case  for  indemnity,  not  for  war.  Therefore,  if  war  came 
at  the  present  juncture  it  was  because  the  people  of  the 
United  States  had  made  up  their  minds  they  wanted  a 
fight,  they  would  have  a  fight,  they  did  n't  care  whether 
they  had  an  excuse  or  not. 

The  speech  made  a  profound  impression  even  in  the 
agitated  state  of  the  public  mind,  for  bitterly  as  North 
might  be  denounced  he  always  was  listened  to.  The 
press  lashed  itself  into  a  fury  and  wrote  head-lines 
which  would  have  ridden  its  editors  into  prison  had 
the  country  possessed  libel  laws  adequate  to  protect  a 
noble  provision  of  the  Constitution.  The  temperate 
men  in  the  country  had  been  with  North  from  the  be- 


33°  Senator  North 

ginning,  but  the  excited  millions  excoriated  him  the 
more  loudly.  He  was  denounced  at  public  banquets 
and  accused  by  excited  citizens  all  over  the  Union, 
except  in  his  own  State,  of  every  depravity,  from  hold- 
ing an  unimaginable  number  of  Spanish  bonds  to 
taking  a  ferocious  pleasure  in  the  sufferings  of  the 
reconcentrados. 

And  in  the  face  of  this  he  must  cast  his  vote  for  war. 

A  weaker  man  would  have  held  stubbornly  to  his 
position,  made  notorious  by  his  personality,  and  a  less 
patriotic  have  chosen  the  satisfaction  of  being  consis- 
tent to  the  bitter  end  and  winning  some  measure  of 
approval  from  the  unthinking. 

But  North  was  a  statesman,  and  although  Betty  did 
not  see  him  to  speak  to  for  many  weeks  after  the 
Message  went  to  Congress,  she  doubted  if  he  had  hesi- 
tated a  moment  in  choosing  his  course.  He  was  a 
man  who  made  a  problem  of  nothing,  who  thought 
and  acted  promptly  on  all  questions  great  and  small. 
It  was  his  manifest  duty  to  support  his  President,  who 
was  also  the  head  of  his  party,  and  to  do  what  he  could 
to  win  the  sympathy  of  Europe  for  his  country  by  mak- 
ing its  course  appear  the  right  and  inevitable  one. 

North's  position  was  the  logical  result  of  the  delib- 
erations and  decisions  of  the  year  1787.  Hamilton, 
the  greatest  creative  and  constructive  genius  of  his  cen- 
tury, never  so  signally  proved  his  far-sighted  statesman- 
ship as  when  he  pleaded  for  an  aristocratic  republic  with 
a  strong  centralized  government.  As  he  was  capable  of 
anything,  he  doubtless  foresaw  the  tyranny  of  the  people 
into  which  ill-considered  liberty  would  degenerate,  just 
as  he  foresaw  the  many  strong,  wise,  and  even  great 
men  who  would  be  born  to  rule  the  country  wisely  if 


Senator  North  331 

given  the  necessary  power.  If  the  educated  men  of 
the  country  knew  that  its  destinies  were  wholly  in  their 
hands,  and  that  they  alone  could  achieve  the  highest 
honors,  there  is  not  one  of  them  who  would  not  train 
himself  in  the  science  of  government.  Such  men, 
ruling  a  country  in  which  liberty  did  not  mean  a 
heterogeneous  monarchy,  would  make  the  lot  of  the 
masses  far  easier  than  it  is  to-day.  The  fifteen  mil- 
lion Irish  plebeians  with  which  the  country  is  cursed 
would  be  harmlessly  raising  pigs  in  the  country.  Ham- 
ilton, in  one  of  his  letters,  speaks  of  democracy  as  a 
poison.  Some  twenty  years  ago  an  eminent  Englishman 
bottled  and  labelled  the  poison  in  its  infinite  variety, 
as  a  warning  to  the  extreme  liberals  in  his  own  country. 
We  attempted  one  ideal,  and  we  almost  have  forgotten 
what  the  ideal  was.  Hamilton's  could  not  have  fared 
worse,  and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  edu- 
cated and  thinking  men,  unhampered  by  those  who 
talk  bad  grammar  and  think  not,  would  have  raised 
our  standards  far  higher  than  they  are,  even  with  men 
like  North  patiently  and  dauntlessly  striving  to  coun- 
teract the  poison  below.  At  all  events,  there  would  be 
no  question  of  a  President's  hand  being  forced.  Nor 
would  such  a  class  of  rulers  put  a  man  in  the  White 
House  whose  hand  could  be  forced. 

Although  Betty  knew  North  would  disregard  the  sneers 
of  the  press  and  of  ambitious  orators  who  would  declaim 
while  cannon  thundered,  she  also  knew  that  his  impas- 
sive exterior  hid  a  sense  of  humiliating  defeat,  and  that 
the  moment  in  which  he  was  obliged  to  utter  his  aye 
for  war  would  be  the  bitterest  of  his  life.  She  fancied 
that  he  forgot  her  in  these  days,  but  she  was  willing 
to  have  it  so.  The  intense  breathless  excitement  of 


332  Senator  North 

that  time,  when  scarcely  a  Senator  left  his  seat  from 
ten  in  the  morning  till  some  late  hour  of  the  night,  ex- 
cept to  snatch  a  meal ;  the  psychological  effect  of  the 
silent  excited  crowds  in  the  galleries  and  corridors  of 
the  Capitol  and  on  its  lawns  and  the  immensity  of  its 
steps  ;  the  solemnity  and  incalculable  significance  of  the 
approaching  crisis,  and  the  complete  gravity  of  the  man 
who  possessed  her  mind,  carried  her  out  of  herself  and 
merged  her  personality  for  a  brief  while  into  the  great 
personality  of  the  nation. 


XIV 

IT  was  half-past  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
nineteenth  of  April.  A  thousand  people,  weary  and 
breathless  but  intensely  silent,  were  crowded  together 
in  the  galleries  of  the  Senate.  They  had  been  there 
all  night,  some  of  them  since  early  afternoon,  a  few 
since  twelve  o'clock.  Outside,  the  corridors  were  so 
packed  with  humanity  that  it  was  a  wonder  the  six  acres 
of  building  did  not  sway.  For  the  first  time  in  hours 
they  were  silent  and  motionless,  although  they  could 
hear  nothing. 

On  the  floor  of  the  Senate  almost  every  chair  was 
occupied,  and  every  Senator  was  singularly  erect ;  no 
one  was  lounging,  or  whispering,  or  writing  to-night. 
All  faced  the  Vice-President,  alone  on  his  dais,  much 
as  an  army  faces  its  general.  Every  foot  of  the  wide 
semicircle  between  the  last  curve  of  chairs  and  the 
wall  was  occupied  by  members  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, who  stood  in  a  dignified  silence  with  which 
they  had  been  little  acquainted  of  late. 


Senator  North  333 

The  Senate  no  longer  looked  like  a  Club.  It  re- 
called the  description  of  Bryce  :  "  The  place  seems 
consecrated  to  great  affairs." 

The  Secretary  was  about  to  call  the  roll  for  the  vote 
which  would  decide  the  fate  of  Cuba  and  alter  for  ever 
the  position  of  the  United  States  in  the  family  of 
nations. 

Betty  had  been  in  the  gallery  all  night  and  a  part 
of  the  preceding  day.  When  the  Senate  took  a  recess 
at  half-past  six  in  the  evening,  she  and  Mary  Mont- 
gomery, while  Mrs.  Shattuc  guarded  their  seats,  had 
forced  their  way  down  to  the  restaurant,  but  had  been 
obliged  to  content  themselves  with  a  few  sandwiches 
bought  at  the  counter.  But  Betty  was  conscious  of 
neither  hunger  nor  fatigue,  although  the  strain  during 
the  last  eight  hours  had  been  almost  insupportable  : 
the  brief  sharp  debates,  the  prosing  of  bores,  inter- 
rupted by  angry  cries  of  "  Vote  !  Vote  !  "  the  reiter- 
ated announcement  of  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Relations  that  the  conferees  could  not 
agree,  the  perpetual  nagging  of  two  Democrats  and 
one  Populist,  the  long  trying  intervals  of  debate  on 
matters  irrelevant  to  the  great  question  torturing  every 
mind,  during  which  there  was  much  confusion  on  the 
floor :  the  Senators  talked  constantly  in  groups  except 
when  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Rela- 
tions brought  in  his  amended  bill ;  —  all  this  had  made 
up  a  day  trying  to  the  stoutest  nerves,  and  more  than 
one  person  had  fainted  and  been  carried  from  the 
galleries. 

The  blood  throbbed  in  Betty  Madison's  head  from 
repressed  excitement  and  the  long  strain  on  her  nerves. 
But  the  solemnity  of  the  scene  affected  her  so  power- 


334  Senator  North 

fully  that  her  ego  seemed  dead,  she  only  was  conscious 
of  looking  down  upon  history.  It  seemed  to  her  that 
for  the  first  time  she  fully  realized  the  tremendous 
issues  involved  in  the  calling  of  that  roll  of  names. 
The  attitude  of  the  American  people  which  she  had 
deprecated  and  scorned  was  dignified  by  the  attitude  of 
that  historical  body  below  her.  Even  Senator  North  did 
not  interest  her.  The  Senate  for  the  time  was  a  unit. 

It  seemed  to  her  an  interminable  interval  between 
the  last  echo  of  the  rumbling  voice  of  the  Clerk  who 
had  read  the  resolution  amended  by  the  report  of  the 
conferees,  and  the  first  raucous  exasperated  note  of 
the  Secretary's  clerk,  after  a  brief  colloquy  between 
Senators.  This  clerk  calls  the  roll  of  the  Senate  at  all 
times  as  if  he  hated  every  member  of  it,  and  to-night 
he  was  nervous. 

Betty  felt  the  blood  throb  in  her  ears  as  she  counted 
the  sharp  decisive  "  ayes  "  and  "  nos,"  although  Bur- 
leigh,  whom  she  had  seen  during  the  recess,  had  told 
her  there  was  no  doubt  of  the  issue.  As  the  clerk 
entered  the  M's,  she  came  to  herself  with  a  shock, 
and  simultaneously  was  possessed  by  a  desire  to  get  out 
of  the  gallery  before  Senator  North's  time  came  to  say 
"  aye."  She  had  heard  the  roll  called  many  times, 
she  knew  there  were  fourteen  M's,  and  that  she  would 
have  time  to  get  out  of  the  gallery  if  she  were  quick 
about  it.  She  made  so  violent  an  effort  to  control  the 
excitement  raging  within  her  that  her  brain  ached  as 
if  a  wedge  had  been  driven  through  it.  She  whispered 
hurriedly  to  Mary  Montgomery,  who  was  leaning  breath- 
lessly over  the  rail  and  did  not  hear  her,  then  made 
her  way  up  to  the  door  as  rapidly  as  she  could ;  even 
the  steps  were  set  thick  with  people. 


Senator  North  335 

As  she  was  passed  out  of  the  gallery  by  the  door- 
keeper, and  found  herself  precipitated  upon  that  pale 
trembling  hollow-eyed  crowd  wedged  together  like 
atoms  in  a  rock,  her  knees  trembled  and  her  courage 
almost  failed  her.  Several  caught  her  by  the  arms, 
and  asked  her  how  the  vote  was  going ;  but  she  only 
shrugged  her  shoulders  with  the  instinct  of  self-defence 
and  pushed  her  way  toward  a  big  policeman.  He 
knew  her  and  put  out  his  hand,  thrusting  one  or  two 
people  aside. 

"  This  has  been  too  much  for  you,  miss,  I  reckon," 
he  said.  "I  '11  get  you  downstairs.  Keep  close 
behind  me." 

He  forced  a  way  through  the  crowd  to  the  elevator. 
To  attempt  to  part  the  compact  mass  on  the  staircase 
would  invite  disaster.  The  elevator  boy  had  deserted 
his  post  that  he  might  hear  the  news  the  sooner,  but 
the  policeman  pushed  Betty  into  the  car,  and  manipu- 
lated the  ropes  himself.  On  the  lower  floor  was 
another  dense  crowd ;  but  he  got  her  to  the  East  door 
after  rescuing  her  twice,  called  her  carriage  and  re- 
turned to  his  post,  well  pleased  with  his  bill. 

For  many  moments  Betty,  bruised  from  elbows, 
breathless  from  her  passage  through  that  crush  in  the 
stagnant  air,  could  not  think  connectedly.  She  vaguely 
recalled  Mrs.  Mudd's  large  face  and  black  silk  dress 
in  the  Diplomats'  Gallery,  which  even  a  Cabinet  minis- 
ter might  not  enter  without  a  permit  from  a  member 
of  the  Corps.  Doubtless  the  doorkeepers  had  been 
flung  to  and  fro  more  than  once  to-night,  like  little 
skiffs  in  an  angry  sea.  She  wondered  how  she  had 
had  sufficient  presence  of  mind  to  fee  the  policeman, 
and  hoped  she  had  not  given  him  silver  instead  of  the 


336 


Senator  North 


large  bill  which  had  seemed  to  spring  to  her  fingers  at 
the  end  of  that  frightful  journey. 

She  leaned  out  of  the  open  window,  wishing  it  were 
winter,  that  the  blood  might  be  driven  from  her  head ; 
but  there  was  only  the  slight  chill  of  a  delicious  April 
morning  in  the  air,  and  the  young  leaves  fluttered 
gently  in  the  trees.  In  the  afternoon  hundreds  of 
boys  had  sold  violets  in  the  streets,  and  the  perfume 
lingered,  floating  above  the  heavier  scent  of  the  mag- 
nolias in  the  parks.  Betty's  weary  mind  pictured 
Washington  as  it  would  be  a  few  weeks  hence,  a  great 
forest  of  brilliant  living  green  amidst  which  one  had 
almost  to  look  for  the  houses  and  the  heroes  in  the 
squares.  Every  street  was  an  avenue  whose  tall  trees 
seemed  to  cut  the  sky  into  blue  banners  —  the  word 
started  the  rearrangement  of  her  scattered  senses ;  in 
a  few  weeks  the  dust  would  be  flying  up  to  the  green 
from  thousands  of  marching  feet. 

She  burst  into  tears,  and  they  gave  her  some  relief. 
The  carriage  stopped  at  the  house  a  moment  later, 
and  she  went  directly  to  her  boudoir.  She  took  off 
her  hat  and  pulled  down  her  hair,  rubbing  her  fingers 
against  her  burning  head.  Senator  North  took  pos- 
session of  her  mind  at  once.  The  Senate  was  no 
longer  a  unit  to  her  excited  imagination ;  it  seemed 
to  dissolve  away  and  leave  one  figure  standing  there 
beaten  and  alone. 

She  forgot  the  passionate  efforts  of  other  Senators  in 
behalf  of  peace  ;  to  her  the  fine  conservative  strength 
of  the  Senate  was  personified  in  one  man.  And  if 
there  were  others  as  pure  and  unselfish  in  their  ideals, 
his  at  least  was  the  master  intellect. 

She  wondered  if  he    remembered  in  this  hour  of 


Senator  North 


337 


bitter  defeat  that  she  had  promised  to  come  to  this 
room  and  give  him  what  she  could  of  herself.  That 
was  weeks  and  weeks  ago,  and  she  had  not  repeated 
her  intention,  as  she  should  have  done.  But  he  loved 
her,  and  was  not  likely  to  forget  anything  she  said  to 
him.  Or  would  he  care  if  he  did  remember?  Must 
not  personal  matters  seem  of  small  account  to-night? 
Or  was  he  too  weary  to  care  for  anything  but  sleep  ? 
Perhaps  he  had  flung  himself  down  on  a  sofa  in  the 
cloak-room,  or  in  his  Committee  Room,  and  forgotten 
the  national  disaster  while  she  watched. 

She  had  been  walking  rapidly  up  and  down  the 
room.  Her  thoughts  were  not  yet  coherent,  and  in- 
stinct prompted  her  to  get  the  blood  out  of  her  head 
if  she  could.  A  vague  sense  of  danger  possessed  her, 
but  she  was  not  capable  of  defining  it.  Suddenly  she 
stopped  and  held  her  breath.  She  had  become  aware 
of  a  recurring  footstep  on  the  sidewalk.  Her  window 
abutted  some  thirty  feet  away.  She  craned  her  head 
forward,  listening  so  intently  that  the  blood  pounded  in 
her  ears.  She  expected  to  hear  the  gate  open,  the 
footsteps  to  grow  softer  on  the  path.  But  they  con- 
tinued to  pace  the  stone  flags  of  the  sidewalk. 

She  opened  her  door,  ran  down  the  hall  and  into 
the  parlor.  Without  an  instant's  hesitation  she  flung 
open  a  window  and  leaned  out.  The  light  from  the 
street  lamp  fell  full  upon  her.  He  could  not  fail  to 
see  her  were  he  there.  But  he  was  not.  The  man 
pacing  up  and  down  before  the  house  was  the  night 
watchman. 

Betty  closed  the  window  hurriedly  and  stumbled 
back  into  the  dark  room.  The  disappointment  and 
reaction  were  intolerable.  She  felt  the  same  blind  rage 

22 


338  Senator  North 


with  Circumstance  which  had  attacked  her  the  night 
he  had  kissed  and  left  her.  In  such  crises  conven- 
tions are  non-existent ;  she  might  have  been  primeval 
woman  for  all  she  recalled  in  that  hour  of  the  teach- 
ings of  the  centuries.  Had  he  been  there,  she  would 
have  called  him  in.  He  was  hers,  whatever  stood 
between  them,  and  she  alone  had  the  right  to  console 
him. 

Her  mind  turned  suddenly  to  his  house.  He  was 
there,  of  course  ;  it  was  absurd  to  imagine  that  his  cool 
deliberation  would  ever  forsake  him.  The  moment 
the  Senate  adjourned  he  would  have  put  on  his  hat, 
walked  down  to  the  East  door,  called  a  cab  and  gone 
home.  And  he  was  in  his  library.  Why  she  felt  so 
positive  that  he  was  there  and  not  in  bed  she  could 
not  have  told,  but  she  saw  the  light  in  the  long  wing. 
She  put  her  hands  to  her  face  suddenly,  and  moved  to 
the  door.  She  stumbled  over  a  chair,  and  then  noticed 
the  intense  darkness  of  the  room.  But  beyond  she 
saw  distinctly  the  big  red  brick  house  of  Senator  North, 
with  the  light  burning  in  the  wing.  Was  she  going 
to  him  ?  She  wondered  vaguely,  for  her  will  seemed  to 
be  at  the  bottom  of  a  pile  of  struggling  thoughts  and  to 
have  nothing  to  say  in  the  matter.  Surely  she  must. 
He  was  a  man  who  stood  alone  and  scorned  sympathy 
or  help,  but  he  would  be  glad  of  hers  because  it  was 
hers ;  there  was  no  possible  doubt  of  that.  And  in 
spite  of  his  record  he  must  for  the  hour  feel  a  bitter 
and  absolute  failure. 

A  pebble  would  bring  him  to  the  window.  He  would 
come  out,  and  come  back  here  with  her.  She  opened 
her  arms  suddenly.  The  room  was  so  dark  she  almost 
could  fancy  him  beside  her.  Would  that  he  were  ! 


Senator  North  339 

She  had  no  adequate  conception  of  a  morrow.  The 
future  was  drab  and  formless.  His  trouble  drew  her 
like  a  magnet.  She  trembled  at  the  mere  thought  of 
being  able  to  make  him  forget. 

And  he?  If  he  came  out  and  saw  her  standing 
there,  he  would  be  more  than  a  man  if  he  resisted  the 
impulse  to  return  with  her  here  and  take  her  in  his 
arms.  And  he  too  must  be  in  a  state  of  mind  in  which 
to-day  dwarfed  and  blotted  out  to-morrow. 

For  the  moment  she  stood  motionless,  almost  breath- 
less, realizing  so  vividly  the  procession  of  bitter  and 
apprehensive  thoughts  in  the  mind  which  for  so  long 
had  possessed  and  controlled  hers  that  she  forgot 
her  intention,  even  her  desire  to  go  to  him.  It  was 
this  moment  of  insight  and  abstraction  from  self 
that  saved  her.  Her  own  mind  seemed  to  awake 
suddenly. 

It  was  as  if  her  thinking  faculty  had  descended  to 
her  heart  during  the  last  hours  and  been  made  dizzy 
and  dull  by  the  wild  hot  whirl  of  emotions  there.  It 
climbed  suddenly  to  where  it  belonged,  and  set  the 
rested  machinery  of  her  brain  to  work. 

Doubtless  his  impulse  had  been  to  come  to  her,  to 
the  room  where  he  knew  she  was  alone  and  would 
receive  him  if  he  demanded  admittance.  He  had  put 
the  temptation  aside,  as  he  had  put  aside  many  others ; 
and  it  had  been  in  her  mind,  was  in  her  mind  still,  to 
make  the  temptation  irresistible.  And  if  he  felt  a 
failure  to-night,  she  had  it  in  her  power  to  wreck  his 
life  utterly. 

It  was  more  than  possible  that  in  the  remaining  years 
of  his  vigor  dwelt  his  tardy  opportunities  for  historical 
fame.  The  great  Republic  had  sailed  out  of  her 


340  Senator  North 

summer  sea  into  foreign  waters,  stormy,  unfriendly, 
bristling  with  unimaginable  dangers.  Once  more  she 
would  need  great  statesmen,  not  merely  able  legislators, 
and  there  could  be  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  any 
student  of  the  Senate  that  she  would  discover  them 
swiftly.  North  was  the  greatest  of  these;  and  the 
record  of  his  future,  brilliant,  glorious  perhaps,  seemed 
to  unroll  itself  suddenly  in  the  dark  room. 

Betty  drew  a  long  hard  breath.  Her  cheeks  were 
cool  at  last,  and  she  wondered  if  her  heart  were  dead, 
it  felt  so  cold.  What  mad  impulse  nearly  had  driven 
her  to  him  to-night,  independently  of  her  will ;  which 
had  slept,  worn  out,  like  other  faculties,  by  a  day  of 
hunger,  excitement,  fatigue,  and  physical  pain?  The 
impulse  had  risen  unhindered  and  uncriticised  from 
her  heart,  and  if  it  had  risen  once  it  could  rise  again. 
The  days  to  come  would  be  full  of  excitement.  She 
fancied  that  she  already  heard  the  roar  of  cannon,  the 
beating  of  drums,  the  sobs  of  women.  And  below  the 
racket  and  its  sad  accompaniment  was  always  the  low 
indignant  mutter  of  a  triumphant  people  at  those  who 
had  dared  to  set  themselves  above  the  popular  clamor 
and  ask  for  sanity.  The  intolerable  longing  that  had 
become  her  constant  companion  would  be  fed  by  every 
device  of  unpropitious  Circumstance.  Again  and  again 
she  would  experience  this  impulse  to  go  to  him,  and 
some  night  the  blood  would  not  recede  from  her  brain 
in  time. 

She  groped  her  way  out  of  the  dark  parlor  and 
down  the  hall,  grateful  for  an  excuse  to  walk  slowly. 
Her  boudoir  was  brilliant,  and  the  struggle  of  the 
last  few  moments  seemed  the  more  terrible  and  sig- 
nificant by  contrast  with  the  dainty  luxurious  room. 


Senator  North  341 


She  wondered  if  she  ever  should  dare  to  enter  the  parlor 
again,  and  if  it  always  would  not  look  dark  to  her. 

She  sat  down  at  her  desk  and  wrote  a  letter.  It 
ran:  — 

DEAR  MR.  BURLEIGH,  —  I  will  marry  you  if  you  still 
wish  it.  Will  you  dine  with  us  to-night  ? 

BETTY  MADISON. 

She  was  too  tired  for  emotion,  but  she  knew  what 
would  come  later.  Nevertheless,  she  went  to  the  front 
door  and  asked  the  watchman  to  post  the  letter.  Thep 
she  went  to  bed. 


XV 

THE  Senate  adjourned  a  few  moments  after  Betty  left 
the  gallery.  There  was  little  conversation  in  the  cloak- 
room. The  Senators  were  very  tired,  and  it  surely  was 
a  brain  of  bubbles  that  could  indulge  in  comment  upon 
the  climax  of  the  great  finished  chapter  of  the  old 
Republic. 

North  put  on  his  hat  and  overcoat  at  once  and  left 
the  Capitol.  After  the  close  confinement  in  heated 
and  vitiated  air  for  sixteen  hours,  the  thought  of  a  cab 
was  intolerable :  he  shook  his  head  at  the  old  darky 
who  owned  him  and  whom  he  never  had  been  able  to 
dodge  during  his  twenty  years'  service  in  Washington, 
plunged  his  hands  into  his  overcoat  pockets,  and  strode 
off  with  an  air  of  aggressive  determination  which  amused 
him  as  a  fitting  anti-climax.  The  darky  grinned  and 
drove  home  without  looking  for  another  fare.  His 
Senator  not  only  had  paid  him  by  the  month  for 


342  Senator  North 

several  years,  but  had  supported  his  family  for  the  last 
ten. 

North  inhaled  the  pure  cool  air,  the  delicious  per- 
fume of  violet  and  magnolia,  as  Betty  had  done. 
Once  he  paused  and  looked  up  at  the  wooded  heights 
surrounding  the  city,  then  down  at  the  Potomac  and 
the  great  expanse  of  roofs  and  leaves.  The  Washington 
Monument,  the  purest,  coldest,  most  impersonal  monu- 
ment on  earth,  looked  as  gray  as  the  sky,  but  its  out- 
lines were  as  sharp  as  at  noonday.  North  often 
watched  it  from  the  window  of  his  Committee  Room ; 
he  had  seen  it  rosy  with  the  mists  of  sunset,  as  dark 
as  granite  under  stormy  skies,  as  waxen  as  death. 
Normally,  it  was  white  and  pure  and  inspiring,  never 
companionable,  but  helpful  in  its  cold  and  lofty  beauty. 

"  It  is  a  monument,"  he  thought,  to-night,  "  and 
to  more  than  Washington." 

He  turned  into  Massachusetts  Avenue  and  strolled 
along,  in  no  hurry  to  find  himself  between  walls  again. 
He  was  not  conscious  of  physical  fatigue,  and  ex- 
perienced no  longing  for  bed,  but  his  brain  was  tired 
and  he  enjoyed  the  absence  of  enforced  companion- 
ship and  continued  alertness,  the  cool  air,  the  quiet 
morning  in  her  last  sleep. 

Betty,  like  all  brilliant  women  who  love  passionately, 
had  over-imagined,  in  her  solitude  and  excitement. 
It  is  true  that  North  had  felt  the  bitterness  of  defeat, 
that  his  mind  had  dwelt  upon  the  miserable  and  blasting 
thought  that  after  years  of  unquestioned  statesmanship 
and  leadership,  of  hard  work  and  unremitting  devotion, 
his  will  had  had  no  weight  against  hysteria  and  delirium. 
But  both  bitterness  and  the  sense  of  failure  had  been 
dismissed  in  the  moment  when  he  had,  once  for  all, 


Senator  North  343 

accepted  the  situation ;  and  that  had  been  several  days 
before.  Since  then,  he  had  shoved  aside  the  past,  and 
had  given  his  undivided  thought  to  the  present  and 
the  future.  He  had  uttered  his  "  aye  "  almost  indiffer- 
ently ;  it  had  been  given  to  the  President  days  since. 

Nevertheless,  his  brain,  tired  as  it  was,  did  not 
wander  from  the  great  climax  in  his  country's  history. 
To  that  country  at  large  this  climax  meant  simply  a 
brief  and  arrogant  chastisement  of  a  cruel  little  nation; 
the  generals  would  have  been  quite  justified  in  sending 
their  dress  clothes  and  golf  sticks  on  to  Havana ;  but 
North  knew  that  this  officious  "  police  duty"  was  the 
noisy  prologue  to  a  new  United  States,  possibly  to  the 
birth  of  a  new  Constitution. 

"Is  this  the  grand  finale  of  the  people's  rule?  "  he 
thought.  "  They  have  screamed  for  the  moon  as  they 
never  screamed  before,  and  this  time  they  have  got  it 
fairly  between  their  teeth.  Well,  it  is  a  dead  old 
planet;  will  its  decay  vitiate  their  own  blood  and 
leave  them  the  half-willing  prey  of  a  Circumstance 
they  do  not  dream  of  now?  Dewey  will  take  the 
Philippines,  of  course.  He  would  be  an  inefficient 
fool  if  he  did  not,  and  he  is  the  reverse.  The  Spanish 
in  Cuba  will  crumble  almost  before  the  world  realizes 
that  the  war  has  begun.  The  United  States  will  find 
itself  sitting  open-mouthed  with  two  huge  prizes  in  its 
lap.  It  may,  in  a  fit  of  virtue  which  would  convulse 
history,  give  them  back,  present  them,  with  much 
good  advice  and  more  rhetoric,  to  their  rightful 
owners.  And  it  may  not.  These  prizes  are  crusted 
with  gold ;  and  the  stars  and  stripes  will  look  so  well 
in  the  breeze  above  that  the  pride  of  patriotism  may 
decide  they  must  remain  there.  And  if  it  does  —  if  it 


344  Senator  North 

does  .  .  .  The  extremists  in  the  Senate  will  grow 
twenty  years  in  one.  .  .  .  With  the  bit  between  their 
teeth  and  the  arrogance  of  triumph  in  their  blood  —  " 

He  found  himself  in  front  of  his  own  house.  He 
turned  slowly  and  looked  intently  for  a  moment  toward 
I  Street.  His  face  softened,  then  he  jerked  out  his 
latchkey,  let  himself  in  and  went  directly  to  the 
library.  He  still  had  no  desire  for  bed,  and  threw 
himself  into  an  easy-chair  before  the  andirons.  But  it 
was  the  first  time  in  several  days  that  he  had  sat  in  a 
luxurious  chair,  and  the  room  was  full  of  soft  warmth. 
He  fell  asleep,  and  although  he  seemed  to  awaken  im- 
mediately, he  could  only  conclude,  when  the  experience 
which  followed  was  over,  that  he  had  been  dreaming. 

He  suddenly  became  aware  that  a  chair  beside  him 
was  occupied,  and  he  wheeled  about  sharply.  His 
sense  of  companionship  was  justified ;  a  man  sat 
there.  North  stared  at  him,  more  puzzled  than  sur- 
prised, endeavoring  to  fit  the  familiar  face  to  some 
name  on  his  long  list  of  acquaintances,  and  wondering 
who  in  Washington  could  have  given  a  fancy-dress  ball 
that  night.  His  visitor  wore  his  hair  in  a  queue  and 
powdered,  a  stock  of  soft  lawn,  and  a  dress-coat  of 
plum-colored  cloth  cut  as  in  the  days  of  the  founders 
of  the  Republic. 

Although  it  was  some  moments  before  North  recog- 
nized his  visitor,  his  resentment  at  this  unseasonable 
intrusion  passed  quickly ;  the  personality  in  the  chair 
was  so  charming,  so  magnetic,  so  genial.  He  was  a 
young  man,  between  thirty  and  forty,  with  a  long  nose, 
a  mobile  mouth,  dark  gray-blue  eyes  full  of  fire  and 
humor,  and  a  massive  head.  It  was  a  face  of  extraor- 
dinary power  and  intellect,  but  lit  up  by  a  spirit  so 


Senator  North  345 

audacious  and  impulsive  and  triumphant  that  it  was 
like  a  leaping  flame  of  dazzling  brilliancy  in  some  for- 
bidding fortress.  He  was  smiling  with  a  delighted 
expression  of  good  fellowship ;  but  North  experienced 
a  profound  conviction  that  the  man  was  weighing  and 
analyzing  him,  that  he  would  weigh  and  analyze  every- 
body with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  and  make  few 
mistakes. 

'•'Who  the  deuce  can  he  be?"  he  thought,  "and 
why  doesn't  he  speak?"  And  then  it  occurred  to 
him  that  he  had  not  spoken,  himself.  He  was  about 
to  inquire  with  somewhat  perfunctory  courtesy  in  what 
manner  he  could  serve  his  visitor,  when  his  glance  fell 
on  the  man's  hands.  He  sat  erect  with  a  slight  ex- 
clamation and  experienced  a  stiffening  at  the  roots  of 
his  hair.  The  hands  under  the  lace  ruffles  were  the 
most  beautiful  that  ever  had  been  given  to  a  man, 
even  to  as  small  a  man  as  this.  They  were  white  and 
strong  and  delicate,  with  pointed  fingers  wide  apart, 
and  filbert  nails.  North  knew  them  well,  for  they  were 
the  hands  of  the  man  whom  he  admired  above  all  men 
in  the  history  of  his  country.  But  until  to-night  he 
had  seen  them  on  canvas  only,  in  the  Treasury  De- 
partment of  the  United  States.  His  feeling  of  terror 
passed,  and  he  sat  forward  eagerly. 

"  The  little  lion,"  he  said  caressingly,  for  the  man 
before  him  might  have  been  his  son,  although  he  had 
been  in  his  tomb  with  a  bullet  in  his  heart  for  nearly  a 
century.  But  he  looked  so  young,  so  restless,  so  in- 
domitable, that  the  years  slipped  out  of  the  century,  and 
Hamilton  once  more  was  the  most  brilliant  ornament 
of  a  country  which  had  never  ceased  to  need  him. 

"  Yes,"  he  said  brightly,  "  here  I  am,  sir,  and  you 


346 


Senator  North 


see  me  at  last.  This  is  that  one  moment  in  the  life- 
time of  the  few  when  the  spirit  burns  through  the 
flesh  and  recognizes  another  spirit  who  has  lost  that 
dear  and  necessary  medium.  I  have  been  with  you  a 
great  deal  in  your  life,  but  you  never  have  been  able  to 
see  me  until  to-night."  He  gave  his  head  an  impa- 
tient toss.  "  How  I  have  wished  I  were  alive  during 
the  last  three  or  four  months  !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  Not 
that  I  could  have  accomplished  what  you  could  not, 
sir,  but  it  would  have  been  such  a  satisfaction  to  have 
been  able  to  make  the  effort,  and  then,  when  I  failed, 
to  tell  democracy  what  I  thought  of  it." 

North  smiled.  All  sense  of  the  supernatural  had  left 
him.  His  soul  and  Hamilton's  were  face  to  face ;  that 
was  the  one  glorified  fact.  "I  have  been  tempted 
several  times  lately  to  wish  that  we  had  your  aristo- 
cratic republic,"  he  said,  "  and  that  I  were  the  head 
and  centre  of  it.  I  have  felt  a  strong  desire  to  wring 
the  neck  of  that  many-headed  nuisance  called  '  the 
people,'  and  proceed  as  if  it  were  where  the  God  of 
nations  intended  those  incapable  of  governing  should 
be  and  remain  without  protest." 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  are  an  aristocrat.  That  is  the  reason 
I  have  enjoyed  the  society  of  your  mind  all  these  years. 
You  were  so  like  me  in  many  ways  when  you  were  my 
age,  and  since  then  I  seem  to  have  grown  older  with 
you.  I  died  so  young.  But  in  you,  in  the  last  twenty 
years,  I  seem  to  have  lived  on.  You  have  built  an  iron 
wall  all  round  those  terrible  fires  of  your  youth,  and 
roofed  it  over.  It  is  only  now  and  then  that  a  panel 
melts  and  the  flame  leaps  out ;  and  the  panel  is  so 
quickly  replaced  !  I  too  should  have  conquered  my- 
self like  that  and  made  fewer  and  fewer  mistakes. 


Senator  North  347 

God  knows  what  I  might  not  have  been  able  to  do 
for  my  country.  I  have  been  mad  to  leap  into  the 
arena  often  enough." 

"  You  are  not  dead.  No  man  is,  whose  inspiration 
lives  on.  More  than  one  of  us  would  be  of  shorter 
stature  and  shorter  gait  if  we  never  had  had  your  ac- 
complishment to  ponder  over.  And  as  to  what  the 
nation  would  have  been  without  you  — " 

"Yes!"  cried  Hamilton.  "Yes!  How  can  any 
man  of  ability  submit  to  death  without  protest,  shrug 
his  shoulders  cynically,  and  say  that  no  man's  disap- 
pearance causes  more  than  a  whirl  of  bubbles  on  the 
surface,  that  the  world  goes  on  its  old  gait  undisturbed, 
and  does  as  well  with  the  new  as  the  old  ?  Look  at 
Great  Britain.  She  has  n't  a  single  great  man  in  all  her 
eleven  million  square  miles  to  lead  her.  That  is  an- 
swer enough  to  a  theory  which  some  men  are  sincere 
enough  in  believing.  This  country  always  has  needed 
great  leaders,  and  sometimes  she  has  had  them  and 
sometimes  not.  The  time  is  coming  when  she  will 
need  them  as  she  has  not  done  since  the  days  when 
three  or  four  of  us  set  her  on  her  feet." 

North  stood  up  suddenly  and  looked  down  on  Ham- 
ilton. "What are  we  coming  to?"  he  asked  abruptly. 
"Monarchy?" 

The  guest  tapped  the  toe  of  his  little  slipper  with  the 
tips  of  his  beautiful  fingers.  He  laughed  gayly.  "  I  can 
see  only  a  little  farther  ahead  than  your  own  far-pene- 
trating brain,  sir.  What  do  you  think?" 

"  As  I  walked  home  to-night,  the  situation  possessed 
my  mind,  which  by  some  process  of  its  own  seemed  to 
develop  link  after  link  in  coming  events.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  I  saw  a  thoroughly  disorganized  people,  un- 


348  Senator  North 

thinkingly  but  ruthlessly  thrusting  aside  all  ideals,  and 
—  consequently  —  in  time  —  ready  for  anything." 

Hamilton  nodded.  "  If  they  had  begun  with  my 
ideal,  they  would  have  remained  there.  Now  they  will 
leap  far  behind  that  —  when  there  is  a  strong  enough 
man  down  there  in  the  White  House.  Certain  radical 
changes,  departures  from  their  traditions  and  those  of 
their  fathers,  will  school  them  for  greater  changes  still. 
In  some  great  critical  moment  when  a  dictator  seems 
necessary  they  will  shrug  their  shoulders  and  say,  <  Why 
not?"' 

"  I  believe  you  are  right,  but  I  doubt  if  it  comes  in 
my  time." 

Hamilton  shook  his  head.  "  Every  state  in  Europe 
has  its  upper  lip  curled  back  above  its  teeth,  and  who 
knows,  when  the  leashes  snap,  what  our  fate  will  be,  now 
that  we  have  practically  abandoned  our  policy  of  non- 
interference in  the  affairs  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere? 
If  all  Europe  is  at  somebody's  throat  in  the  next  five 
years,  we  shall  not  escape  ;  be  sure  of  that.  Then  will 
be  the  great  man's  opportunity.  You  always  have  de- 
spised the  office  of  President.  Work  for  it  from  this  day. 
The  reaction  from  this  madness  will  help  you.  Demo- 
crats as  well  as  Republicans  will  turn  to  you  as  the  one 
man  worthy  of  the  confidence  of  the  entire  country." 

"Not  if  they  guessed  that  I  meditated  treason,  sir. 
Nor  should  I.  I  agree  with  you  that  your  ideal  was 
the  best,  but  there  is  nothing  for  me  to  do  but  to  make 
the  best  of  the  one  I  Ve  inherited.  If  I  am  aristocratic 
in  my  preferences,  I  am  also  a  pretty  thoroughgoing 
American." 

"  Yes,  yes,  I  know,  sir.  You  never  will  meditate 
what,  if  premeditated,  would  be  treason.  But  when 


Senator  North  349 

the  great  moment  comes,  when  your  patriotism  and 
your  statesmanship  force  you  to  admit  that  if  the  coun- 
try is  to  be  saved  it  must  be  rescued  from  the  people, 
and  that  you  alone  can  rescue  it,  then  you  will  tear  the 
Constitution  down  its  middle.  This  country  is  past 
amendments.  It  must  begin  over  again.  And  the 
whole  great  change  must  come  from  one  man.  The 
people  never  could  be  got  to  vote  for  an  aristocratic  re- 
public. They  must  be  stunned  into  accepting  a  mon- 
archy. After  the  monarchy,  then  the  real,  the  great 
Republic." 

The  two  men  looked  long  into  each  other's  eyes. 
Then  North  said,  — 

'•'  I  repeat  that  I  never  should  work  nor  scheme  for 
the  position  that  such  a  change  might  bring  me. 
Nevertheless,  believing,  as  I  do,  that  we  are  on  the 
threshold  of  a  new  and  entirely  different  era  in  this 
country,  if  the  time  should  come  when  I  felt  that  I, 
as  its  most  highly  trained  servant,  could  best  serve  the 
United  States  by  taking  her  destinies  entirely  into  my 
own  hands,  I  should  do  so  without  an  instant's  hesita- 
tion. I  have  done  all  I  could  to  preserve  the  old  order 
for  them,  and  they  have  called  me  traitor  and  gone  their 
own  way."  Now  let  them  take  the  consequences." 

Hamilton  set  his  mobile  lips  in  a  hard  line.  His 
eyes  looked  like  steel.  "Yes,"  he  said  harshly,  "let 
them  take  the  consequences.  They  had  their  day, 
they  have  gone  mad  with  democracy,  let  them  now 
die  of  their  own  poison.  The  greatest  Republic  the 
world  ever  will  have  known  is  only  in  the  ante-room  of 
its  real  history."  He  stood  up  suddenly  and  held  out 
his  hand.  "  Good-bye,  sir,"  he  said.  "  We  may  or  may 
not  meet  again  before  you  too  are  forced  to  abandon 


350  Senator  North 

your  work.  But  I  often  shall  be  close  to  you,  and  I 
believe,  I  firmly  believe,  that  you  will  do  exactly  as 
I  should  do  if  I  stood  on  solid  ground  to-day." 

North  took  the  exquisite  hand  that  had  written  the 
greatest  state  papers  of  the  century,  and  looked  won- 
deringly  at  its  white  beauty.  It  suddenly  gave  him 
the  grip  of  an  iron  vise.  North  returned  the  pressure. 
Then  the  strong  hand  melted  from  his,  and  he  stood 
alone. 

Exactly  in  what  the  transition  from  sleep  to  waking 
consisted,  North  was  not  able  to  define.  There  was  a 
brief  sense  of  change,  including  a  lifting  of  heavy  eye- 
lids. Technically  he  awoke.  But  he  was  standing  on 
the  hearthrug.  And  his  right  hand  ached. 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  What  difference  does  it  make  whether  he  appeared 
to  my  waking  eyes  or  passed  through  my  sleeping 
brain  and  sat  down  with  my  soul?" 

He  plunged  his  hands  into  his  pockets  and  stood 
thinking  for  many  minutes.  He  said,  half  aloud, 
finally,  — 

"  Not  in  my  time,  perhaps.  But  it  will  come,  it 
will  come." 


XVI 

WHEN  Betty  awoke  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
she  discovered  with  some  surprise  that  she  had  slept 
soundly  for  eleven  hours.  Her  head  was  a  trifle  heavy, 
but  after  her  bath  she  felt  so  fresh  again  that  the  pre- 
vious day  and  night  seemed  like  a  very  long  and  very 
ugly  dream.  She  reflected  that  if  she  had  not  written 


Senator  North  351 

to  Burleigh  before  she  went  to  bed  she  certainly 
should  do  so  now.  He  still  seemed  the  one  safeguard 
for  the  future ;  she  had  convinced  herself  that  with  her 
capacity  for  violent  emotion  and  nervous  exaltation, 
her  head  was  not  to  be  trusted. 

She  felt  calm  enough  this  afternoon,  and  she  opened 
with  no  enthusiasm  the  note  which  had  arrived  from 
Burleigh.  She  might  have  drawn  some  from  its  super- 
abundant amount,  but  she  frowned  and  threw  it  in  the 
fire.  Then  she  went  to  her  mother's  room  and  an- 
nounced her  engagement. 

"  My  dear  !  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Madison.  "  Well !  — 
I  am  delighted." 

Then  she  looked  keenly  at  Betty  and  withheld  her 
congratulations.  But  she  asked  no  questions,  although 
the  edge  suddenly  left  her  pleasure  and  she  began  to 
wonder  if  Burleigh  were  to  be  congratulated. 

"  He  is  coming  to  dinner,"  Betty  continued,  "  and 
I  want  you  to  promise  me  that  you  will  not  leave  us 
alone  for  a  moment,  and  that  you  will  go  with  me  to 
New  York  to-morrow." 

"  I  will  do  anything  you  like,  of  course,  and  I 
always  enjoy  New  York." 

"  I  want  to  get  away  from  Washington,  and  I  want 
to  shop  more  than  anything  in  life.  I  hate  the  thought 
of  everything  serious,  —  the  country,  the  war,  everybody 
and  everything,  and  I  feel  that  if  I  could  spend  two 
weeks  with  shops  and  dressmakers  I  'd  be  quite  happy 
—  almost  my  old  self  again." 

"  I  wish  you  were,"  said  Mrs.  Madison,  with  a  sigh. 
"  I  wish  this  country  never  had  had  any  politics." 

The  instinct  of  coquetry  was  deeply  rooted  in  Betty 
Madison,  but  that  evening  she  selected  her  most  un- 


352  Senator  North 


becoming  gown.  She  was  one  of  those  women  who 
never  look  well  in  black,  and  look  their  worst  in  it 
when  their  complexion  shows  the  tear  of  secret  trouble 
and  broken  rest.  She  had  a  demi-toilette  of  black 
chiffon  trimmed  with  jet  and  relieved  about  the  neck 
with  pink  roses.  She  cut  off  the  roses ;  and  when  ar- 
rayed had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  herself  look  thirty- 
five.  For  a  moment  she  wavered,  and  Leontine,  with 
tears,  begged  to  be  allowed  to  remove  the  gown ;  but 
Betty  set  her  teeth  and  went  downstairs. 

She  had  the  further  satisfaction  of  seeing  a  brief 
flash  of  surprise  and  disappointment  in  Burleigh's  eyes 
as  he  came  forward  to  greet  her;  and,  indeed,  the 
gown  seemed  to  depress  the  company  for  the  entire 
evening.  Betty  tried  to  rattle  on  gayly,  but  the  painful 
certainty  that  she  looked  thirty-five  (perhaps  more), 
and  that  Burleigh  saw  it,  and  her  mother  (who  was 
visibly  depressed)  saw  it,  and  the  butler  and  the  foot- 
man (both  of  whom,  she  knew  through  Leontine,  ad- 
mired her  extravagantly)  saw  it,  dashed  her  spirits  to 
zero,  and  she  fell  into  an  unreasoning  rage  with  Senator 
North. 

"  I  am  going  to  New  York  to-morrow,  and  you  are 
not  to  follow  me,"  she  said  with  a  final  effort  at  play- 
fulness. "  I  have  been  at  such  a  nervous  strain  over 
this  wretched  war  that  I  must  be  frivolous  and  femi- 
nine for  two  whole  weeks  — and  what  so  serious  as 
being  engaged?  " 

Burleigh  sighed.  His  spirits  were  unaccountably 
low.  He  had  forgotten  his  country  for  an  entire  day, 
and  rushed  up  to  the  house  ten  minutes  before  the 
appointed  hour,  his  spirits  as  high  as  a  boy's  on  his 
way  to  the  cricket  field.  But  his  apple  had  turned  to 


Senator  North  353 

ashes  in  a  funereal  gown,  and  there  seemed  no  color 
about  it  anywhere. 

"  Of  course  you  want  a  change,"  he  said,  "  but  I 
hope  you  will  write  to  me." 

"  I  '11  write  you  a  little  note  every  day,"  she  said 
with  sudden  contrition.  "I  know  I'll  feel  —  and 
look  ever  so  much  better  in  a  few  days." 

"  There  !  "  she  thought  with  a  sigh,  « I  Ve  made  this 
wretched  sacrifice  for  nothing,  and  I  '11  never  forget 
how  I  'm  looking  at  the  present  moment,  to  my  dying 
day.  I  know  I  '11  wear  my  most  distracting  gown  the 
next  time  he  comes.  Well,  what  difference  ?  I  've  got 
to  marry  him,  anyhow." 

She  shook  hands  cordially  with  him  when  he  rose  to 
go,  an  hour  later,  but  she  did  not  leave  her  mother's  side. 
He  did  not  attempt  to  smile,  but  shook  hands  silently 
with  both  and  left  the  room  as  rapidly  as  dignity  would 
permit. 

Mrs.  Madison  put  her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes  and 
burst  into  tears. 

"Poor  dear  man  !  "  she  exclaimed.  "I  felt  exactly 
as  if  we  were  having  our  last  dinner  together  before  he 
went  off  to  the  war  to  get  killed.  I  never  spent  such 
a  dismal  evening  in  my  life.  And  what  on  earth  made 
you  put  on  that  horrid  gown  ?  You  look  a  fright  — 
you  almost  look  older  than  he  does." 

"  Don't  turn  the  knife  round,  please.  I  'm  rather 
sorry,  to  tell  the  truth,  but  I  did  n't  want  him  to  be 
too  overjoyed.  I  could  n't  have  stood  it." 

"  Are  you  sorry  that  you  have  engaged  yourself  to 
him?" 

"  No,  I  am  glad  —  very  glad."  But  she  said  it 
without  enthusiasm. 

23 


354  Senator  North 

When  she  went  up  to  her  room,  she  presented  the 
black  gown  to  Leontine  and  sent  her  to  bed.  Then 
she  put  on  a  peignoir  of  pink  silk  and  lace  and  ex- 
amined herself  in  the  mirror.  She  looked  fifteen  years 
younger  and  wholly  charming;  there  was  no  doubt 
of  it. 


XVII 

THE   next   day,    before   starting  for    New   York,   she 
wrote  a  note  to  Senator  North  :  — 

I  am  going  to  marry  Robert  Burleigh.  On  Tuesday 
morning  I  almost  went  to  your  house  —  to  bring  you  back 
with  me  here.  I  came  to  my  senses  in  time  ;  but  I  might 
not  again.  I  want  you  to  understand. 

I  wish  he  were  not  on  the  winning  side.  But  he  is  the 
only  man  I  can  even  think  of  marrying. 

I  do  not  think  this  much  is  disloyal  to  him.  But  I  will 
not  say  other  things.  B.  M. 

Burleigh  came  to  the  train  to  see  her  off,  and  Betty 
looked  so  charming  in  her  rich  brown  travelling  frock 
and  little  turban,  and  smiled  so  gayly  upon  him,  that 
his  heavy  spirit  lifted  its  wings  and  he  begged  to  be  al- 
lowed to  go  to  New  York  on  Saturday.  But  to  this  she 
would  not  listen,  and  he  was  forced  to  content  himself 
with  making  elaborate  preparations  for  her  comfort  in 
the  little  drawing-room,  and  buying  a  copy  of  every 
paper  and  magazine  the  newsboy  had  on  sale. 

"  I  am  sure  he  will  make  an  ideal  husband,"  said 
Mrs.  Madison,  as  she  waved  her  hand  to  him  from  the 
window. 


Senator  North  355 

"  He  certainly  is  very  much  of  a  man,"  admitted 
Betty,  "  but  what  on  earth  are  we  to  do  with  all  these 
papers  ?  I  have  n't  room  to  turn  round." 

The  excitement  in  Washington,  great  as  it  was,  had 
been  mostly  within  doors ;  in  New  York  it  appeared 
to  be  entirely  in  the  streets,  if  one  excepted  the  cor- 
ridors of  the  hotels.  The  population,  still  pale  and 
nervously  talkative,  surged  up  and  down  the  sidewalks. 
On  the  morrow  the  city  put  forth  her  hundred  thou- 
sand flags.  The  very  air  seemed  to  turn  to  stars  and 
stripes. 

The  Madisons  went  to  the  Waldorf-Astoria,  and  in 
its  refreshing  solitudes  felt  for  the  first  time  in  months 
that  they  must  go  in  search  of  excitement  if  they 
wanted  it ;  none  would  reach  them  here. 

"Now  that  the  war  is  declared,  I  am  sorry,"  ad- 
mitted Mrs.  Madison,  "for  so  many  Americans  will 
be  killed." 

"  Instead  of  Cubans.  I  've  done  with  the  war.  I 
won't  even  regret." 

For  three  days  Betty  shopped  furiously,  or  held  long 
consultations  with  her  dressmaker.  On  Sunday,  after 
church,  she  read  to  her  mother,  but  refused  to  discuss 
her  engagement,  and  on  Monday  she  resumed  her 
shopping.  She  wrote  to  Burleigh  immediately  after 
breakfast  every  morning,  then  dismissed  him  from  her 
mind  for  twenty- four  hours. 

The  beautiful  spring  fabrics  were  in  the  shops,  and 
she  bought  so  many  things  she  did  not  want,  even  for 
a  trousseau,  that  she  wondered  if  Mrs.  Mudd  would 
accept  a  trunk  full  of  "  .things."  She  envied  Mrs.  Mudd, 
and  would  find  a  contradictory  pleasure  in  making  her 
happy.  Miss  Trumbull  never  had  manifested  any  false 


356  Senator  North 

pride,  and  matrimony  had  altered  her  little  in  other 
ways. 

At  night  she  slept  very  well,  and  if  she  did  not  think 
of  Burleigh,  neither  would  she  think  of  Senator  North. 

She  did  not  open  a  newspaper.  What  the  country 
did  now  had  no  interest  for  her ;  it  was  marching  to 
its  drums,  and  nothing  could  stop  it.  And  she  would 
have  her  fill  of  politics  for  the  rest  of  her  natural 
life.  As  Mrs.  Madison  always  was  content  with  a 
novel,  she  made  no  complaint  at  the  absence  of  news- 
papers, particularly  as  the  fighting  had  not  begun. 
Moreover,  Betty  took  her  to  the  theatre  every  evening, 
a  dissipation  which  her  invalidism  endured  without  a 
protest. 

It  was  on  Wednesday  afternoon  that  Betty,  returning 
to  her  rooms,  met  Sally  Carter  in  a  corridor  of  the 
hotel.  The  two  girls  kissed  as  if  no  war  had  come 
between  them,  and  Miss  Carter  announced  that  she 
was  going  to  Cuba  to  nurse  the  American  soldier. 

"  I  almost  feel  conscience-stricken,"  she  remarked, 
"  now  that  we  actually  are  in  for  it.  I  don't  think  I 
believed  it  ever  really  could  happen.  It  was  more 
like  a  great  drama  that  was  about  to  take  place  some- 
where on  the  horizon.  But  if  the  American  boys 
have  to  be  shot,  I  'm  going  to  be  there  to  do  what  I 
can." 

They  entered  the  parlor  of  Mrs.  Madison's  suite,  and 
that  good  lady,  who  had  read  until  her  eyes  ached, 
welcomed  Sally  with  effusion  and  demanded  news  of 
Washington. 

"  We  have  n't  seen  a  paper  or  a  soul,"  she  said. 
"  We  have  our  meals  up  here,  and  I  feel  as  if  I  were  a 
Catholic  in  retreat.  It 's  been  a  relief  in  a  way,  es- 


Senator  North  357 

pecially  after  the  salon,  but  I  should  like  to  know  if 
Washington  has  burned  down,  or  anything." 

"  Washington  is  still  there  and  still  excited,"  said  Miss 
Carter,  dropping  into  a  chair  and  taking  off  her  hat, 
which  she  ran  the  pin  through  and  flung  on  the  floor. 
"  How  it  keeps  it  up  is  beyond  the  comprehension  of 
one  poor  set  of  nerves.  I  am  now  dead  to  all  emo- 
tion and  longing  for  work.  I  'm  even  sorry  I  painted 
my  best  French  handkerchiefs  red,  white,  and  blue.  If 
you  haven't  seen  the  papers  I  suppose  you  don't  know 
that  Mrs.  North  is  dead.  She  died  suddenly  of  paralysis 
on  the  twenty-second.  The  strength  she  got  in  the 
Adirondacks  soon  began  to  leave  her  by  degrees ;  the 
doctor  —  who  is  mine,  you  know  —  told  me  the  other 
day  that  it  meant  nothing  but  a  temporary  improve- 
ment at  any  time;  but  he  had  hoped  that  she  would 
live  for  several  years  yet.  Betty,  what  on  earth  do 
you  find  so  interesting  in  Fifth  Avenue?  I  hate  it, 
with  its  sixty  different  architectures." 

"  But  it  looks  so  beautiful  with  all  the  flags,"  said 
Betty,  "and  the  one  opposite  is  really  magnificent." 

It  was  a  half- hour  before  Sally  ceased  from  chat- 
tering and  went  in  search  of  her  father.  Betty  had 
managed  to  control  both  her  face  and  her  knees,  and 
listened  as  politely  as  a  person  may  who  longs  to 
strangle  the  intruder  and  achieve  solitude.  The  mo- 
ment Sally  had  gone  Betty  went  straight  to  her  room, 
avoiding  her  mother's  eyes,  which  turned  themselves 
intently  upon  her. 

She  did  not  reappear  for  dinner,  as  her  mother  was 
made  cheerful  by  the  society  of  the  Carters ;  but  as  Sally 
passed  her  room  on  her  way  to  bed,  she  called  her  in, 
and  the  two  girls  had  a  few  moments'  conversation. 


35 8  Senator  North 


XVIII 

"  MOLLY,"  said  Betty,  the  next  morning,  "I  should 
like  to  go  up  to  the  Adirondacks  alone  for  a  few 
weeks.  Would  you  mind  staying  here  with  the  Colo- 
nel and  Sally  for  another  ten  days  and  then  returning 
with  them?  Sally  says  she  will  move  into  my  room 
and  that  she  and  the  Colonel  will  take  you  to  the 
theatre  and  do  everything  they  can  to  make  you  happy. 
You  know  the  Colonel  delights  to  be  with  you." 

"  I  understand,  of  course,  that  you  are  going,"  said 
Mrs.  Madison.  "  I  shall  not  be  bored,  if  that  is  what 
you  mean.  I  hope  you  will  telegraph  at  once,  so  that 
the  house  will  be  warmed  at  least  a  day  before  you 
arrive.  I  suppose  you  have  got  to  a  point  in  your  affairs 
where  you  must  have  solitude,  but  I  wish  you  had  not, 
and  I  wish  you  would  go  where  it  is  warmer." 

"  Oh,  I  shall  be  comfortable  enough."  She  added 
in  a  moment,  "  Don't  think  I  do  not  appreciate  your 
consideration,  for  I  do." 

Then  she  sat  down  at  the  desk  and  wrote  a  note  to 
Burleigh.  It  was  a  brief  epistle,  but  she  was  a  long 
while  writing  it.  Her  previous  notes  had  been  dashed 
off  in  ten  minutes,  and  usually  related  to  the  play  of  the 
previous  evening.  His  replies  had  been  a  curious 
mingling  of  half-offended  pride  and  a  passion  which 
was  only  restrained  by  the  fear  that  the  lady  was  not 
yet  ready  for  it. 

Finally  Betty  concocted  the  missive  to  the  satisfaction 
of  her  mind's  diplomatic  condition.  She  had  not  yet 
brought  herself  to  begin  any  of  her  notes  to  him  for- 


Senator  North  359 

mally.  "  Dear  Robert  "  was  as  yet  unnatural,  and 
"  Dear  Mr.  Burleigh "  absurd ;  so  she  ignored  the 
convention. 

"  I  suddenly  have  made  up  my  mind  to  go  to  the  Adi- 
rondacks  for  a  month,  qitite  alone"  she  wrote.  "  When 
one  is  going  to  take  a  tremendous  step,  one  needs  solitude 
that  one  may  do  a  great  deal  of  hard  thinking.  I  don't 
wonder  that  some  Catholic  women  go  into  retreat.  At  all 
events,  Washington,  *  the  world,'  even  my  mother,  even 
you,  who  always  are  so  kind  and  considerate,  seem  impos- 
sible to  me  at  present ;  and  if  I  am  to  live  with  some  one 
else  for  the  rest  of  my  life,  I  must  have  one  uninterupted 
month  of  solitary  myself.  Doubtless  that  will  do  me  till 
the  end  of  my  time  !  So  would  you  mind  if  I  asked  you 
not  even  to  write  to  me  ?  I  have  enjoyed  your  notes  so 
much,  but  I  want  to  feel  absolutely  alone.  Don't  think 
this  is  petty  egoism.  It  goes  far  deeper  than  that  I  If  we 
ever  are  to  understand  each  other  I  am  sure  I  need  not 
explain  myself  further.  B.  M." 

"  It  has  a  rather  heartless  ring,"  she  thought  with 
a  sigh,  "  but  it  will  intrigue  him,  and  —  who  knows  ? 
As  heaven  is  my  witness,  I  do  not.  But  I  do  know 
this,  that  unless  I  get  away  from  them  all  and  fairly  in- 
side of  myself,  whatever  I  do  will  seem  the  wrong 
thing  and  I  might  end  by  making  a  dramatic  fool  of 
myself." 


XIX 

THE  ice  was  on  the  lake  this  time,  although  it  was 
melting  rapidly,  but  the  sun  shone  all  day.  She  had 
to  wear  her  furs  in  the  woods,  but  the  greens  had  never 
looked  so  vivid  and  fresh,  and  save  for  an  occasional 


360  Senator  North 

woodchopper  and  her  own  servants,  there  was  not  a 
soul  to  be  met  in  that  high  solitude.  The  hotel  across 
the  lake  would  not  open  for  a  month.  Even  the  birds 
still  lingered  in  the  South. 

After  she  had  been  alone  for  two  days  she  wondered 
why,  when  in  trouble  before,  she  had  not  turned  instinc- 
tively to  solitude  in  the  forest.  It  is  only  the  shallow 
mind  that  dislikes  and  fears  the  lonely  places  of  Na- 
ture :  the  intellect,  no  matter  what  vapors  may  be  sent 
up  from  the  heart,  finds  not  only  solace  in  retirement, 
but  another  form  of  that  companionship  of  the  ego 
which  the  deeply  religious  find  in  retreat.  The  intel- 
lectual may  lack  the  supreme  self-satisfaction  of  the 
religious,  but  they  find  a  keen  pleasure  in  being  able  to 
make  the  very  most  of  the  results  of  years  of  consistent 
effort. 

Betty,  whether  alone  by  a  roaring  fire  of  pine  cones 
in  the  living-room,  or  wandering  along  the  edge  of  the 
lake  in  the  cold  brilliant  sunshine,  or  in  the  more  mys- 
terious depths  of  the  forest,  listening  to  the  silence  or 
watching  the  drops  of  light  fall  through  the  matted  tree- 
tops,  felt  more  at  peace  with  the  world  than  she  had 
done  since  her  fatal  embarkation  on  the  political  sea. 
She  put  the  memory  of  Harriet  Walker,  insistent  at 
first,  impatiently  aside,  and  in  a  day  or  two  that  shadow 
crept  back  to  its  grave. 

For  a  few  days  her  mind,  in  its  grateful  repose,  hesi- 
tated to  grapple  with  the  question  which  had  sent  her 
to  the  mountains ;  and  on  one  of  them,  while  thinking 
idly  on  the  great  political  questions  which  had  mag- 
netized so  much  of  her  thought  during  the  past  year, 
the  inspiration  for  which  she  had  so  often  longed  shot 
up  from  the  concentrated  results  of  thinking  and  ex- 


Senator  North  361 

perience,  and  revealed  in  what  manner  she  could  be  of 
service  to  her  country.  This  was,  whatever  her  per- 
sonal life,  to  gather  about  her,  once  a  week,  as  many 
bright  boys  of  her  own  condition  as  she  could  find, 
and  interest  and  educate  them  in  the  principles  of  pa- 
triotic statesmanship.  With  her  own  burning  interest 
in  the  subject  and  her  personal  fascination,  she  could 
accomplish  far  more  than  any  weary  professor  could 
do. 

She  had  come  up  to  these  fastnesses  to  decide  the 
future  happiness  of  one  or  two  of  three  people,  and 
she  felt  sober  enough  ;  but  for  almost  a  week  she  wished 
that  she  could  live  here  alone  for  the  rest  of  her  life : 
she  believed  that  in  time  she  would  be  serenely  con- 
tent. She  had  the  largest  capacity  for  human  happi- 
ness, but  she  guessed  that  the  imagination  could  be  so 
trained  that  when  far  from  worldly  conditions  it  could 
create  a  world  of  its  own,  and  would  shrink  more  and 
more  from  the  practical  realities.  For  Imagination  has 
the  instinct  of  a  nun  in  its  depths  and  loves  the  clois- 
ter of  a  picturesque  solitude.  It  is  a  Fool's  Paradise, 
but  not  inferior  to  the  one  which  mortals  are  at  liberty 
to  enter  and  ruin. 

But  Betty  could  not  live  here  alone,  she  could  not 
ignore  her  responsibilities  in  any  such  primitive  fash- 
ion ;  and  so  long  as  her  heart  was  alive  it  would  make 
battle  for  real  and  tangible  happiness. 

She  had  a  question  to  decide  which  involved  not 
only  the  heart  but  the  mind  :  if  she  made  a  mistake 
now,  she  would  be  at  odds  with  her  higher  faculties  for 
the  rest  of  her  life.  She  dreaded  the  sophistry  which 
sat  on  either  side  of  the  subject ;  and  it  was  a  question 
whether  the  very  strength  of  her  impulse  toward  the 


362  Senator  North 

man  she  had  loved  for  a  year  was  not  the  strongest 
argument  in  its  favor. 

But  she  had  given  her  word  to  another  man,  and  she 
had  the  high  and  almost  fanatical  sense  of  honor  of  the 
Southern  race.  On  the  other  hand,  she  had  a  practi- 
cal modern  brain,  and  during  the  last  year  she  had 
been  living  in  close  contact  with  much  hard  common- 
sense.  She  had  imagination,  and  she  knew  that  she 
already  had  made  Burleigh  suffer  deeply,  and  had  it  in 
her  power  to  raise  that  suffering  to  acuteness ;  and  if 
that  buoyant  nature  were  soured,  a  useful  career  might 
be  seriously  impaired.  On  the  other  hand,  she  had 
made  a  greater  man  more  miserable  still,  and  while  he 
was  finding  life  black  enough  she  had  rushed  into  the 
camp  of  the  enemy ;  and  his  capacity  for  suffering  was 
far  deeper  and  more  enduring  than  that  of  the  younger 
man. 

She  tried  to  put  herself  as  much  aside  from  the  ques- 
tion as  possible,  but  she  had  her  rights  and  they  made 
themselves  heard.  She  knew,  had  known  at  once,  that 
she  had  outraged  all  she  held  most  dear,  in  engaging 
herself  to  one  man  when  she  loved  another,  and  she 
had  begun  to  wonder  —  in  irresistible  flashes  —  before 
the  news  had  come  which  sent  her  to  the  mountains,  if 
she  should  falter  at  the  last  moment.  But  breeding 
has  carried  many  a  woman  over  the  ploughshares  of 
life,  and  her  mind  was  probably  strong  enough  to  go 
on  to  the  inevitable  without  theatric  climax.  At  the 
same  time  the  idea  of  marriage  with  one  man  when  she 
loved  another  was  abhorrent ;  that  it  was  particularly 
so  since  marriage  with  the  other  had  become  possible, 
she  understood  perfectly.  And  although  she  continued 
to  reason  and  to  argue,  she  had  a  lurking  suspicion  that 


Senator  North  363 

while  she  might  be  strong  enough  to  conquer  a  desire 
she  might  not  be  able  to  conquer  a  physical  revolt, 
and  that  it  would  rout  her  standards  and  decide  the 
issue. 

She  had  made  up  her  mind  that  she  would  hesitate 
for  a  month  and  no  longer,  and  she  also  had  deter- 
mined that  she  would  decide  the  question  for  herself 
and  throw  none  of  the  responsibility  on  Senator  North  ; 
she  felt  the  impulse  to  write  to  him  impersonally  more 
than  once.  (Perhaps  her  sense  of  humor  also  re- 
strained her.)  She  wondered  if  it  were  one  year  or 
twenty  years  since  she  had  gone  to  him  for  advice ; 
and  she  knew  that  whichever  way  she  decided,  the  de- 
sire for  his  good  opinion  would  have  something  to  do 
with  it. 

There  are  only  a  certain  number  of  arguments  in 
any  brain,  and  after  they  have  been  reiterated  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  times  they  palL  From  argument 
Betty  lapsed  naturally  into  meditation,  and  the  sub- 
ject of  these  meditations,  tender,  regretful,  and  impas- 
sioned, was  one  man  only ;  and  Burleigh  had  no  place 
in  them.  Occasionally  she  forced  him  into  her  mind, 
but  he  seemed  as  anxious  to  get  out  as  she  was  to  drive 
him ;  and  after  the  ice  melted  and  she  was  able  to 
spend  hours  on  the  lake,  and  rest  under  spreading 
oaks,  where  she  had  only  to  shut  her  eyes  to  imagine 
herself  companioned,  she  felt  herself  unfaithful  if  she 
cast  a  solitary  thought  to  Burleigh. 

At  the  end  of  the  month  she  was  not  tired  of  soli- 
tude, but  she  was  tired  of  her  intellectual  attitude. 
She  was  human  first  and  mental  afterward ;  and  she 
wanted  nothing  on  earth  but  to  be  the  wife  of  the 
man  whom  she  had  loved  for  a  lifetime  in  a  year.  The 


364 


Senator  North 


moment  she  formulated  this  wish,  hesitation  fled  and 
she  could  not  wind  up  her  engagement  with  Burleigh 
rapidly  enough.  Her  letter,  however,  was  very  sweet 
and  apologetic,  and  it  was  also  very  honest.  She  knew 
that  unless  she  told  him  she  loved  another  man  and 
intended  to  marry  him,  he  would  take  the  next  train 
for  the  Adirondacks  and  plead  his  cause  in  persoik 
His  reply  was  characteristic. 

"  Very  well,"  it  ran.  "  I  do  not  pretend  to  say  I  was  not 
prepared  after  your  last  letter  from  New  York.  And  al- 
though I  could  not  guess  your  motive  in  accepting  me,  I 
knew  that  you  did  not  love  me.  But  if  I  am  not  overwhelmed 
with  surprise,  the  pain  is  no  easier  on  that  account,  and  will 
not  be  until  the  grass  has  had  time  to  grow  over  it  a  little. 
And  at  least  it  is  a  relief  to  know  the  worst.  Of  course  I 
forgive  you.  I  doubt  if  any  man  could  feel  bitterly  toward 
you.  You  compel  too  much  love  for  that. 

"  Don't  worry  about  me.  I  have  work  enough  to  do  —  a 
State  to  talk  sense  into  and  a  nation  to  which  to  devote  my 
poor  energies.  My  brain  such  as  it  is  will  be  constantly 
occupied,  which  is  the  next  best  good  a  man  can  have. 

"  ROBERT  BURLEIGH." 

Betty  wrote  him  four  pages  of  enthusiastic  friendli- 
ness in  reply,  and  paid  him  the  compliment  of  post- 
poning her  letter  to  Senator  North  until  the  following 
day. 

But  on  that  day  she  rose  with  the  feeling  that  the 
sun  never  would  set. 

She  was  as  brief  as  possible,  for  she  knew  that  he 
hated  long  letters.  Nevertheless,  she  conveyed  an 
exact  impression  of  her  weeks  of  deliberation  and 
analysis. 

"  I  want  you  to  understand,"  she  went  on,  "  that  my 
only  wish  when  I  came  here  for  solitary  thought  was  to  do 


Senator  North  365 

the  right  thing,  irrespective  of  my  own  wishes  in  the  matter. 
But  it  seems  to  me  there  is  exactly  as  much  to  be  said  on 
one  side  as  on  the  other,  and  it  all  comes  to  this :  right  or 
wrong,  I  have  decided  for  you  because  I  love  you ;  and  if 
you  no  longer  can  admire  me,  if  you  think  that  I  have  vio- 
lated my  sense  of  honor,  then  at  least  I  shall  marry  no  one 
else.  B.  M." 

And  as  her  imagination  was  strong  she  did  allow 
herself  to  be  tortured  by  doubts  during  the  three  days 
that  elapsed  before  she  heard  from  him.  She  had 
hoped  he  would  telegraph,  but  he  did  not,  and  her 
imagination  and  her  common-sense  had  a  long  and 
indecisive  argument  which  threatened  ultimate  de- 
pression. On  the  third  night,  however,  a  messenger 
from  the  hotel  opposite  brought  her  a  note  from  Senator 
North. 

"  I  don't  know  that  your  mental  exercise  has  done  you 
any  harm,"  he  had  written,  "  but  it  certainly  was  thrown 
away.  You  have  too  much  common-sense  and  too  thorough 
a  capacity  for  loving  to  do  anything  so  foolish  or  so  outra- 
geous as  to  marry  the  wrong  man.  If  you  had  followed  a 
romantic  impulse  —  induced  by  nervous  excitement  —  and 
married  him  the  day  you  learned  that  your  word  might  be 
put  to  too'  severe  a  test,  you  would  have  been  miserable, 
and  so  would  Burleigh.  A  mistaken  sense  of  duty  has  been 
the  cause  of  quite  one  fourth  of  the  unhappiness  of  man- 
kind, and  few  have  been  so  bigoted  as  not  to  acknowl- 
edge this  when  too  late.  And  a  broken  engagement  is  a 
small  injustice  to  a  man  compared  to  a  lifetime  with  an 
unloving  wife.  Burleigh  is  unhappy  now,  but  it  is  no 
lack  of  admiration  which  prompts  me  to  say  that  if  he  had 
married  you  he  would  have  been  unhappier  still.  You 
could  do  nothing  by  halves. 

4i  Formalities  with  us  would  be  an  affectation  unworthy 
of  either,  and  I  have  come  to  you  at  once.  I  knew  that  you 


366  Senator  North 

would  send  for  me,  but  I  preferred  to  wait  until  you  wrote 
that  your  engagement  was  broken.  What  I  felt  when  I 
received  your  note  announcing  it,  I  leave  to  your  imagi- 
nation, and  I  forgot  it  as  quickly  as  possible.  I  understood 
perfectly,  but  you  exaggerated  the  dangers;  for  my  love 
for  you  is  so  great  and  so  absorbing,  so  complete  in  all 
its  parts,  that  nothing  but  marriage  would  satisfy  me.  I 
should  have  preferred  a  memory  to  a  failure. 

"  If  your  mother  were  with  you,  I  should  go  over  to-night. 
But  I  shall  wait  for  you  at  rive  to-morrow  morning  where 
you  were  in  the  habit  of  letting  me  board  your  boat.  And 
the  day  will  not  be  long  enough  1  R.  N." 

Betty  slept  little  that  night,  but  felt  no  lack  of  fresh- 
ness the  next  morning  when  she  rose  shortly  after  four. 
A  broken  night  meant  little  to  her  now,  and  happiness 
would  have  stimulated  every  faculty  if  she  had  not 
slept  for  a  week. 

She  rowed  swiftly  across  the  lake.  It  was  almost 
June  now,  and  the  warmth  of  summer  was  in  the  air, 
the  paler  greens  among  the  grim  old  trees  of  the  forest. 
The  birds  had  come  from  the  South  and  were  singing 
to  the  accompaniment  of  the  pines,  the  roar  of  distant 
cataracts ;  and  yet  the  world  seemed  still.  The  stars 
were  white  and  faint,  the  moon  was  tangled  in  a  tree- 
top  on  the  highest  peak. 

He  might  have  been  the  only  man  awake  as  he 
stood  with  the  forest  behind  him,  and  she  recalled  her 
fancy  that  although  her  horizon  was  thick  with  flying 
mist  his  figure  stood  there,  immovable,  always.  He 
looked  as  if  he  had  not  moved  since  he  stood  there 
last,  but  the  mist  was  gone. 

As  he  stepped  into  the  boat,  she  moved  back  that  he 
might  take  the  oars. 

"  I  have  on  a  white  frock,  and  a  blue  ribbon  in  my 


Senator  North  367 

hair,"  she  said  nervously,  but  smiling,  "  else  I  could 
not  have  forgotten  that  a  year  has  come  and  gone." 

He  too  was  smiling.  "  I  think  it  is  the  only  year 
we  ever  shall  want  to  forget,"  he  said.  And  he  rowed 
up  the  lake. 


THE   END. 


O 


PS  \64T_ 


